Braided Chain of Command
by Amially
Summary: A fan of the Games is hard to come by in the Districts, but the knowledge and strategy one would possess could prove even more important than skill. This fan knows how to govern the tributes, but a wrench in the plan sees to it that they do more than just lead the way to victory. Career Districts haven't been established, victory's up for grabs. The eighth games, not SYOT, all OCs.
1. One

"Why are you here?"

"I want to be."

"That's a good answer; you'll make a lot of friends that way."

I can't help but be surprised by his response, he wasn't being sarcastic, but he surely wasn't being completely honest. It was the _perfect _answer, not just _good_. I've been watching these games for seven years and I know that at this moment, for someone with all the characteristics I have, that answer is the one that will bring me to the top, I sure hope my mentor knows it too.

"That's exactly what I plan on doing, sir," I say and he nods nonchalantly. I can't help but be a little disappointed with this response as well and decide I'm not going to say anything more about my strategy, especially when Kristen's here.

Kristen's crying right now, she held up for pretty long; only started crying after she was already on stage and no one ended up volunteering for her. From what I've observed that's a lot longer than it takes to bring most girls to tears. In fact she might not have even started crying had it not been for my volunteering for the boy's position before her. It must have gotten her hopes up a little to see someone from our District volunteering. Trying to hold back crying is admirable, but her chances of getting sponsors and winning the games are still going to be pretty low, being a girl and all.

Now, I have _nothing_ against girls, actually I broke up with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago when I'd decided that I was going to volunteer since I didn't want her to worry about me while I was in the arena. Typically I would end a relationship gently, you know, hold her hands and offer to be friends with her and stuff, but this time I cut it off real badly on purpose, for her own good. It would be a whole lot easier for her to handle anything going sour for me in the games if she hated me than if she still had feelings for me, or if we were still dating. Girls are great; they just haven't had the best record in the games.

Okay, so that may be a bit of an understatement considering they haven't had _any_ record in the games. This is the eighth year the games have been running and so far there's never been a girl who's won. They've come close, final two even, but it's just so happened that none of them have ever come out on top. The whole situation works out well for me; boys are always heavy hitters for sponsors now, especially if they show promise.

Dredd, District Six's mentor speaks to both Kristen and I this time. "I assume you're both used to riding on trains?"

I nod and Kristen mirrors me, sniffling into the napkin that was placed on her lap upon our being seated. The entire train rustles gently back and forth, the high quality cargo making a soft tinkling sound as it comes into contact with another piece of china or silverware.

Our District is crosshatched with train tracks, mainly because it's where all of the trains from Panem come for service. We also drive trains, lay train tracks, and – oh that's right - make trains.

We're _very_ proud of our trains. Literally, just look at our District seal; it's all anyone thinks we do.

If you looked up District Six in a textbook, they'd tell you that we also manufacture cars, hovercrafts and other transportation devices, but I don't think they make anyone in the Capitol do much textbook-reading. Plus, no one seems to think that anyone in the whole flipping District is a doctor or owns a grocery store. Just because a lot of us specialize in machines doesn't mean we _are _them. Does anybody care that we have the best dental records in Panem? Nope.

That's why I want to win the Games. I can grow up to be one of our District's 10 000 third-generation train conductors, but being a victor; yeah, that's a _little _less common.

Dredd checks his watch and then motions to one of the servants in the room. In a flash, the TV on the wall comes on, alive with the familiar Hunger Games' intro-tune playing. I can't help but tap my foot to the beat.

Dredd drums his fingers on the table and looks across to me. He raises a playful eyebrow. "Excited Everett?"

"You have no idea."

A long intro of lame banter ruins my mood a tad; I hope our year isn't remembered for the terrible comedy. When the screen finally starts switching to the contestants, I lean in with interest.

First up is District One, the renowned village of cobblestones and polished steel, a few steps short of pixie dust and glitter. As I had suspected, they show the same scenery footage that they've shown for the past three years, so I have a few more seconds of waiting to do. At last the two tributes are chosen and I'm given a close up look at them.

Neither are volunteers - not surprising, but somewhat disappointing. The girl is named Yarra, she's mature-looking and pretty, but it's the boy that I'm really interested in. Out of the crowd comes 'Preston', my soon to be opponent, or even ally if everything goes to plan. For being reaped randomly out of the entire District, he seems pretty promising; good build, little emotion, deep voice, and not too shaky.

I make a mental note of him, definitely a person of interest.

District Two's boy is named Ayler, there's no way he's as old as Preston, but he does volunteer, a sure sign of confidence. A group of friends give him wolf whistles and seem pleased when the cameras focus on them for a few seconds, painting their faces onto the Jumbotrons.

He makes it onto my list as well.

Trawl, the boy from District Three is mature and fit, on the list he goes.

The boy from District Four, a tall, handsome volunteer is certainly going to catch a lot of attention. Whenever there's a really attractive boy picked, he proves to get a ton of sponsors, so he'd be good to have around. On the other hand, I don't really want to end up getting compared to the almost perfect, blonde-headed human specimen that he is. Conflicted, I put him on my list anyways, since I told myself I wouldn't ignore anyone who volunteered.

I complete my list with the boys from Districts Eight, Nine, and Ten. I feel a bit reluctant adding District Eight to the group, mostly because I can't tell if his larger-than-average (or at least larger-than-me) build is muscular or not. Unfortunately, they seem to be having mic troubles and never actually announce his name.

The boy from Nine, Jarratt, and William from Ten are both very promising physically and seem to be in a good state of mind.

The girls from Nine and Ten aren't that bad to look at either. Ten's got a fantastic body, but her hair's a bit unfortunate. Nine on the other hand is a head-to-toe knockout. In fact, I had spotted her out of the crowd before they even started the draw when a camera focused on her for a few seconds. To make matters even better, she was a _volunteer_. That takes guts, especially for a girl. Too bad when I devised my ultimate Hunger Games strategy it didn't have any space for girls.

I can't help but wonder why she volunteered. I mean, my life was hardly perfect back home; I don't feel like I'm going to be losing much of a future if I end up dying young.

_Wow, when I put it that way it sounds really pathetic._

There's not a whole lot going for me in the world; I'll admit that I'm not super good-looking, my family doesn't have a ton of money, and there's no room for job progression in District Six. Pretty much the only way you can be somebody at home is to win the games.

Now, the girl from Nine on the other hand, she could have been someone. The Capitol will never admit it, but everyone knows they send out scouts into the Districts to bring back people like her to act in movies and on shows in the Capitol_._ As a matter of fact, it's somewhat amazing that she hadn't already been scouted.

I kick myself over losing track of my personal rule not to get side-tracked by girls and think back over the list of guys I've made note of in my head. Preston, Ayler, Trawl, and Jason consecutively from One, Two, Three, and Four, mystery boy from Eight, Jarratt (Nine) and William (Ten).

If everything goes according to my plan, I'll be able to team up with them and we'll have a mighty fine chance of making it to the final few tributes. If I were to win, I would want to be known for taking out a lot of strong boys before being crowned champ, so bringing a strong alliance to the finals is my best bet of accomplishing that.

The fifth champion of the games won because he let everyone else take out the biggest competitors for him and then came in at the last minute to get rid of a couple scrawny Outer-District kids. If I win, I will prove that I can plan and execute it all by myself; I'm not going to let someone else do the work for me.

When I get to the Capitol I'm going to pick my right-hand man, recruit the rest, and fill them in on our plans. If they don't want to join us, that's okay, but we're sure as heck not going to show any mercy. There's no place for mercy in the middle of a bloodbath.

Servants bring food to the table and I mull over who I think will be the best leader to have close by my side.

Ideally, whoever I pick as my counterpart has to be:

a) Willing to join me and stay by my side

b) Preferably a volunteer, so I can make sure he's not gonna go all soft on me

c) Not too big to make me look small, but still somewhat strong

d) Attractive, for sponsors' sake, but not too good looking

e) Not a psychopath

Assuming everyone on my list wants to join, Jason and Ayler were the only other two volunteers, but Jason's far too good looking to have running things by my side. He's tall, husky, tanned, I'll quite literally pale in comparison to him. Ayler definitely looks to be younger than everyone else, but maybe that'll just make it easier for me to control him.

I'll try out Ayler first and see how it goes.

The train screeches as we pull to a stop in one of the Districts. We've already been on here for a couple hours, but I'm sure we weren't the first District to get on the train. I can see out the windows as our train car pulls past a station where an impressive crowd of people and paparazzi are standing. Judging by the fact that we pull past the station, we're probably picking up the tributes from District Seven or Eight.

"Why are we stopping?" Kristen asks Dredd and Guaret, our Capitol representative.

Dredd finishes chewing what he's got in his mouth before he replies. "Picking up the tributes from District Nine."

_Damn, District Nine. _At least my guess was close.

"We've just got to pick up Districts Five, Three, and One, and then we'll arrive at the Capitol," Guaret adds.

I sit up, intrigued. "So that means that some of the tributes are already on board? Can we go see them?"

Guaret never mentioned Districts Two or Four, so the train must have already picked up Jason _and _Ayler before they got us. Maybe I won't have to wait until we get to the Capitol to start building my team.

Kristen and Guaret both look perplexedly at me and to my embarrassment I start blushing. I shouldn't have come across that eager; I'll give my plans away.

"No," Dredd answers, thankfully emotionless. "You're not allowed to see anyone."

He probably thinks I want to fight with them, or more likely he just thinks the shock of the games has driven me nuts. The joke will be on him when I replace him as mentor after I win. I bet If Kristen played her cards right, even she could win. The problem is that none of the mentors know how to spot their tributes' strengths and weaknesses. Luckily for me, I've watched enough of the games that I'm pretty sure I can get along fine without too much outside mentoring from Dredd.

That's the thing about the games, they're great if you know what you're doing, but I couldn't imagine being one of those poor kids who just gets chosen randomly. Well, that's not exactly true, I can imagine it; I just really don't want to. I can't blame the kids who jump off the pedestal onto the landmines, they've gotta know that they don't have a chance.

I have to stop and remind myself that I should be grateful for most of the Districts having poor mentors; otherwise the Hunger Games would just be a test of physical ability. Discrepancies keep things fair in a sense, the fact that there are no discrepancies at school means that every competition turns into a popularity contest. No one's allowed to really express themselves, cross the boundaries, bend the rules. In the games, there are no rules. As long as you can bend the minds of the people you're playing with, you can give yourself a fighting chance; sculpt your surroundings to what works best for you.

I can hardly sit still; the thought of being able to share my plans that I've spent years concocting is intoxicating. Thanks to our lovely District's trains, we arrive to the Capitol as the sun starts to set; tomorrow's the opening ceremonies, when I'll finally get a chance to meet everybody.

"Try to look like you know where you're going," Dredd directs us before our train car rolls up to the Capitol's main station where we'll be getting off. "There's going to be a huge crowd of press out there and all they've gotten footage of in the past seven years has been a bunch of confused looking kids. People are gonna be looking for confidence."

Fortunate that Kristen's stopped crying.

* * *

First, thanks for opening this ^_^

Second, if you're the person who gets a new book and immediately flips to the last page, there's nothing I can do to stop you from doing that here, but I can highly suggest against it! There are mysteries, character developments, and plot twists ahead that may be hard to understand without the rest of the story under your belt and I, as an author want you to understand them completely.

I'm indebted to you because you opened this in the first place, but my biggest request is now on the plate

Thanks again :)

Watch for the eagle!


	2. Two

It was surprisingly easy to sit through my first-ever makeover. They try to make us look nice for the chariot rides, clean up our hair and nails and stuff. There a part of me that has to admit that there was a part of me that liked the feeling of having someone else wash my hair for me.

Plus I've got a pretty large cloud of cologne surrounding me and I can't help but feel like a bit of a ladies' man.

As I'm lead into the hall where the chariots are being set up, I'm glad to see a lot more manicured, suit-bearing young men staggered around the room. All of the girls must still be in their make-over suites, so it's only the male tributes waiting around right now.

Handsome Jason from District Four is even taller than I had perceived, he was the only blonde boy from what I gathered yesterday, so I can instantly pick him out of those who are here. I'd never admit it out loud but, _man_ he's good looking – even I'm a bit intimidated to talk to him. Maybe he can wait until later.

I try to scan the room a bit, looking for Ayler, but he's not here. I don't want to lose such a good opportunity to talk to anyone though, so I muster up some courage and, puffing my chest out a little, walk over to the boy from District One.

_Shoot, what was his name again?_

Panicked, I hold out my hand to him and he shakes it politely. "Hey, I'm Everett."

"Preston." _Right, Preston. Got it. _

Without trying to be too obvious about it, I do a quick scan of his physique. He's about my height, I'd pin him at around five foot ten, and skinny. He's not that bad looking, but if he stood up a bit straighter I'm sure he'd catch more attention.

He doesn't offer anything to the conversation, but he also doesn't give off any hostility regarding my being here.

"The Capitol's pretty showy, huh?" I ask, fumbling for something basic to say.

He nods in agreement, hands in his pockets, and leans back against the wall.

_Well isn't somebody a chatter box. _It takes me a second before I can think of another thing to try to get him talking. "I wonder why the girls' makeovers are taking so long."

He looks at me funny, then smirks and looks back down at his feet.

"What?" I muse, trying not to sound as insulted as I feel.

He smiles again. "I guess you don't have any sisters, huh?"

"Nope, can't say I do."

"Well, from what I can guess, we're probably going to be waiting for quite a while."

Now it's my turn to be stumped by the conversation. All I can think of to do is nod. Why does this have to be so awkward? I can't mess this up, no no no.

My luck turns around, a door opens a few yards away from us and of all people, Ayler emerges.

And _walks towards us._

I'm as giddy as a Capitol fangirl getting the autograph of Darian Smithyes, last year's winner.

"Glad that's over," Ayler bounces while he walks towards us. "Can't say I mind my shoes though, make me feel like a rich kid," he holds out his hand to both of us in turn. "Ayler."

We both introduce ourselves as we shake his hand; I can tell that Preston feels uncomfortable with Ayler's sudden arrival.

Ayler, completely unfazed, looks around. "Are none of the girls out yet?"

"Nope, they take longer than us," I manage to come up with.

"That's a shame, I was hoping I'd get some time to chat with the girl from Nine, if you know what I'm saying," he says with a laugh, still scanning the room.

_I honestly just said none of them were here; you can stop looking around now, numbskull._

When he finally turns back to Preston and I, I catch him sizing us up. I can't help but feel a bit violated. _Don't let it faze you. _I have to be confident; this guy was my number one target.

"So you volunteered too?" I ask.

He nods and smiles at me. He's better looking than Preston, but Jason still takes the cake for looks. "District Two's Victor's Village is filling up pretty quickly, didn't want to miss a chance at one of the houses there."

I'm about to tell him about why I volunteered when, low and behold, from across the room, the girl from District Nine strides into the warehouse, blonde hair loose and high heels on.

Ayler looks like he's being presented with a briefcase of diamonds. "_Woah._ That is... _nice. _Definitely much better in person, eh?"

Transfixed, he whistles to get her attention, then waves and shouts boisterously before running across the room and leaning against the carriage in front of her.

So much for finding a partner.

All I can do is stand and watch in awe with Preston beside me, growing more and more uncomfortable. I feel a bit defeated having failed so miserably at my first encounter with my premier pick at a co-leader. Alyer certainly wasn't anything like I expected him to be. I wouldn't mind him being in my alliance, but as for being a right-hand-man, I don't think he exactly fits the part. If I couldn't even hold a conversation with him, there's no way I'm going to be able to get him to agree with me on everything inside the arena. Plus, I can't exactly say that I like him very much, we're here to fight to the death, not pick up girls.

_Don't let it discourage you; he's not the only guy on your list._

Preston snaps me out of my thinking. "I guess I uh, better go get ready."

"Right, see you at training," I stammer, hoping I didn't scare him off too much. Right now I think he's probably the best friend I've got, unless Dredd counts, but he and I aren't exactly friendly either.

I stand around stroking the horse on my chariot for the rest of the time. Most of the other guys do the same thing, a few sneak glances at Ayler as he continues to strike out with the girl from District Nine who doesn't seem to be showing much interest in him. Eventually Kristen and the rest of the girls merge with the original tributes that were standing in the hall and we're instructed to get on our chariots, boys to the left of the girls.

When we start rolling I try to stay calm and work through what I've got planned. As my chariot rolls out I try not to look scared or cower to the crowd, instead I hold my head high and smile at the people around me. Not many tributes have ever executed this successfully so it should help me to look unique.

From reviewing footage of past ceremonies, I know that there's cameramen posted at the top of the stands and through special sections of the bleachers that are secluded for high-roller sponsors. I try to focus all of my attention at these places, if a camera ever looks my way I want to be looking straight into it. As we drive by I can see a few people in the high-rollers boxes looking at me, so I steal Ayler's yell-and-wave technique of catching girls' attention to reel the rest in. After a couple of shouts I can see a few people nudging each other's focus my way and some of them even return my waves.

_Success._

I continue with this for the rest of the procession, only stopping to put a serious-yet-mysterious expression on during the President's speech, which I already have memorized. Hopefully a few of the cameras are turned to me by now, so the people watching at home can get a proper look at my face to remember what I look like.

The speech ends and we roll back into a warehouse that's very similar to the one we were waiting in before. Dredd, Guaret, and the people who did our makeovers are waiting to meet us. I had no idea that they'd still hang around with us now that we were in the Capitol.

"Back up into the elevators," Dredd says, helping Kristen down. "We've got the rest of the day to go over strategy."

* * *

I don't think elevators can break, can they? On the way down to the training center I'm full of adrenaline, I can't help but bounce up and down at the knees. I smile at Kristen who just looks at me in horror and stop fidgeting when I realize that I actually was shaking the elevator.

Instead I focus on trying to take some deep breaths, but that doesn't really work out very well either and I burst from the elevator like floodwater as soon as the doors open.

With a quick scan of the room, I see we're the sixteenth and seventeenth ones here. I can pick out a few of the guys on my list; Trawl, Ayler, Jarratt, William, Jason. I want to approach all of them, but I everybody looks pretty nervous and I don't want to scare anyone away, so I just stand around and take in my surroundings for a bit.

Everyone else arrives and they give us a speech, then set us free to explore. A few people walk confidently towards stations, but most just linger around to see where everyone else goes.

I see Ayler at a station with several females and decide that I better not try to steal his attention away from them again. It would be best not to look too eager.

Jason's working with knives. Trawl and Preston have each taken a different survival skill station, so I could choose to talk to one of them if I wanted.

_Maybe I should just go to a station and learn a few skills…_

Someone clears their throat behind me, my heart rate picks up.

Holding his hand out to shake mine is William, the boy from District Ten. "You're Everett right?"

Surprised by the fact that someone approached me, I shake his hand. "Yeah, and uh… William?"

I don't want to freak him out by making it look like I have his name memorized.

"Yeah, District Six, right? Well, I guess it says so on your jersey, so you don't have to really bother answering that. Aha. Sorry, I uh… I just thought I should get to know some of the people I was going to be up against."

"Man, well uh… I was, I was just about to do the same thing. I think we probably have a better chance in the arena if we've got some people to work with, so long as they don't drain our blood in our sleep or anything."

He looks taken aback by what I said and I'm suddenly reminded that he didn't volunteer, he might not be so up for the jokes regarding murder.

Struggling to pull him back, I go on. "I was hoping to find some guys who wanted to form an alliance."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, so long as they'd be up for it. I know the games pretty well; wanna help give the worthy players a better shot of making it far."

His posture relaxes a little; I can tell that's what he had wanted to hear when he decided to come over here. I smile, realizing that I must have come across to him as someone he could come to in order to form an alliance, maybe his mentor even suggested me. If I'm the best suggestion to form an alliance with, I must be boding well in the Capitol.

He nods, interested. "That sounds really promising, I guess uh, if you're looking for people to add to your group and you wanted me to join, I'd… you know… join."

I take a look around the center; Jason's making a mess of the practice dummies, Ayler's ignoring everything with a Y chromosome, William might actually be the best shot I've got for a co-leader.

"Well, yeah, I think you're definitely someone I'd want to have around." I tell him, somewhat surprised by what I'm saying. "Why don't we go to one of the stations and talk a bit more?"

I can tell he tries to hide his relief. He really is quite strong, I can see the muscles in his arms and torso release their built up tension. Thankfully I don't think his bulk is excessive enough to make me look bad. However, muscles don't necessarily mean he's going to be a good fighter. He's about my height, if not a centimeter or two shorter than me, and is good-looking enough to get that kind of attraction from sponsors. If I can get him far enough on my side to be willing to have my back at all costs, this could work out very nicely indeed.

By lunch, I've visited four stations with William. We got a basic instruction on how to make fire from scratch, some plants that you can eat without getting sick, a few moves to stun opponents in fights, and how to use knives when being attacked by large animals. William does well at each of these, he had some trouble making fires in the beginning, but figured it out eventually. Even the instructor was impressed with how William handled himself regarding large animals. He told me he had worked as a farmhand since he was fifteen and that he was eighteen now. He wasn't surprised when I said I was seventeen or that I had been laying train tracks for the past few summers. According to him I've 'got a worker's build.'

He looks a bit reluctant, but ends up sitting with me while we eat.

I decide that now's a good time to propose my strategy to him, before we spend too much more time together. "So, uh, I already told you I was kind of planning on putting together a group of guys to lead during the games."

He nods with interest.

I continue. "I've been watching the Games ever since they started and I think I've got a pretty good knowledge of what goes on in there and how to get yourself pretty far. I want to make sure, if I win, I win against someone good, so I want to keep some strong guys with me until the last few tributes are around."

"Sounds like a pretty good plan," he says, somewhat hesitant. Has he seen a flaw I haven't noticed? I doubt it because there really aren't any. _Why does he look so nervous all of a sudden?_

Okay, he just missed his mouth with his spoon, something's up.

"What's wrong?" I ask while he uses an excessive amount of napkins to try to clean up the pile of mashed potatoes on his pants.

"Oh uh, I was just thinking and … well I don't know if everyone's going to go for somebody telling them what to do." He stands up when a servant comes over to clear up the mess for him. He blushes heavily as she takes the napkins from him and dabs at his pants. I'm going to have to word my answer carefully.

"Well, I was hoping to find someone I could lead with, you know, I watch their back, they watch mine – in case anyone in the group gets fed up with my leadership."

The servants have stopped pestering him now and he sets back down to his tray, taking in what I've said to him.

Still looking down, he laughs, a pure, honest smile remaining after he's finished laughing.

I smile back at him. "What?"

He tips his head up and raises his eyebrows, still smiling. "I take that as an invitation to be your partner?"

"You're more observant than I thought." I laugh with relief, looking back down at my tray.

A deep, relaxed exhale from William."Yeah, sounds good to me."

* * *

**I'm trying to stay away from the typical Capitol scenes that you see in HG fanfiction, because I'll admit that even I tend to scan over them. I know you guys know what goes on in the Capitol, so I'm just trying to show the interesting bits :)**

**Watch for the eagle!**


	3. Three

It still hasn't set in that I've found a perfect partner - heck, it hasn't set in that I'm going into the Games. The relationship between William and I isn't exactly what I had been imagining, but I'm sure it will improve as we get to know each other. I guess that it's been going fairly well so far though, I have a hard time coming up with anybody that I've connected with as quickly as him.

I decide it's time to give him the full rundown of the plan. "So, as for when we get in the Games, I've got some stuff already planned out."

"Mhmm?" he nods, genuinely interested.

"I want our group of guys to stick around until there's barely anyone left. Depending on how quickly the tributes outside our group go down, I'd say we wait until there are our boys and only two or three other tributes left."

"And then what do we do?"

"We split up; give each other two days of truce to run away, and then it's every man for himself and last man standing wins."

"What happens if we come across another tribute when we're still together as a group?" William asks. I'm a bit surprised that he seems to be completely comfortable with the idea, since he didn't volunteer for the Games. I know that his comfort is definitely a good thing, I can't complain about a smooth-running plan.

"We team up against them," I answer. "It won't exactly be fair, but to be completely honest I don't think many of these people have a chance anyways."

"When we're together as a group, we're going to share resources right? Medicine and food and stuff?"

"Oh for sure. When we split up, we'll divide medicine and food equally, but-"

He cuts me off. "Weapons."

I continue. "Yeah, weapons are the obvious issue. You can't split a sword in half if two people want it. As for weapons, we'll put them all in a pile together and take turns picking who wants what. Who picks first will be decided by the number of kills at the Cornucopia and sponsor gifts while we're in the arena."

"The deaths at the Cornucopia are mostly chance-based, it's so hectic that the kills you get are pretty much decided by the number of tributes you happen to run into," William states without batting an eyelash.

Impressed by his knowledge, it's my turn to ask questions. "You've watched the games closely enough to come up with that?"

"It would be stupid to not know the basics of how things go down," He shrugs.

I don't want to make a big deal of what I consider to be a huge revelation if he doesn't, so I just decide to continue. "Well, back on track; you're right, deaths at the cornucopia can be somewhat random. Just in the case that someone gets really lucky or really unlucky at the bloodbath, we'll also count the number of sponsor gifts towards who gets first pick of the weapons."

"Sounds like a really good plan to me," William says.

I blush with pride. "Thanks. Oh – and of course, if anyone tries to stand up against the group, the group treats them like they would any other random tribute."

He looks me in the eyes. "No mercy."

I nod my head slightly, maintaining the eye contact.

He finishes off his tray of food before talking again. "Well, my friend, you have a deal."

We shake hands, letting the servants take away our empty trays.

"Who did you have in mind for group members?" He asks, glancing around the room.

"Most of the boys; Preston, Ayler, Trawl, Jason, Jarratt, that boy from Eight."

"Dai Lao?"

"Is that his name? I couldn't hear it when they announced it during the reaping."

He nods and points to one of the screens on the wall. I notice for the first time that it shows everyone's name next to our Districts.

"Oh that's convenient."

"Mhmm. I was talking to Dai Lao earlier, he seems alright. I'm sure he'd be willing to join us."

"Really? Wow, that's fantastic," I say, somewhat bewildered. It would be nice to have William help me recruit everybody. "I don't think Preston would have the guts to turn us down, I tried talking to him before the opening ceremonies and he seemed pretty shy. If we showed that we had a big group together, there's no way he'd say no."

"I think you could probably say the same for Ayler."

I look around for Ayler, spotting him flitting around the room, still chasing after girls. "Are you sure?"

Wiliam nods confidently. "Oh yeah, look at the kid. Anyone trying so hard to get to _every_ girl here has got to be as insecure as anything."

I can see his reasoning.

"There's no way we're ever going to get Jarratt to join us," he says matter-of-factly.

Shocked, I switch my gaze to the hulking character sitting by himself on the other side of the room. "What makes you say that?"

He laughs. "I tried asking him for an alliance before I came to you. Turned me down completely."

"So that's that then," I laugh.

"Yep."

"Attention tributes," One of the gamemakers walks into the room. "After lunch each day you'll be split into groups to rotate through the mandatory stations. The groups have been chosen randomly, two girls and two boys each, and will maintain for the duration of training. This is a tradition that has worked successfully since the installment of the Hunger Games and each group's members are not negotiable. Thank you."

William raises an eyebrow to me.

On a board behind the gamemaker, the groups and station rotation schedule appears. I'll be starting out at 'Water Purification' with the District Seven boy, District Nine girl, and District Ten girl.

I'm disappointed, there's no one in my group who I want to be in my team. The boy from District Seven is scrawny and can only be thirteen at most. I suppose I'll probably learn a lot with no distractions from boys I want to join me, but it still would have been nice to have private time with a potential recruit.

William scans the board. "Would you look at that, I'm with Ayler."

"You can talk to him about the plan."

"So long as I can get his attention away from the girls in our group, but you've got Eileen and the other girl that he seems to be paying the most attention to."

I look back up at the board. "Eileen?"

"Eileen, my District partner."

"Oh… right, sorry I haven't been paying much attention to girls."

"Man, it's alright - really," He gestures to Ayler. "I never would have talked to you in the first place if you did."

We laugh collectively and make our way towards our stations.

* * *

For the remainder of the day, I just focus on what I'm to be learning. I'm dying to talk to some of the other boys, but there's no chance for me to, so I try my best to simply get over the fact that I can't.

Occasionally I look over for William, who's been talking with Ayler a lot from what I can tell. When we were rotating through our stations once, I caught William's eye and he gave me a thumbs up. Hopefully that means Ayler's game to join us.

William's female counterpart from District Ten, Eileen, ignores me completely, except for the same few brief glances that all of the tributes are making at each other. Her and the gorgeous girl from District Nine, who I found out was named Marie-Lynn, talk a lot, on the other hand. I even catch them snickering together when I get knocked over by the self-defence trainer.

The poor boy from District Seven does very poorly overall at almost everything and cries quite a bit. There are a couple instances that I wish I could help him out, give him some words of encouragement, but I don't think there's anything I could say that could really mend the situation. Plus, going soft won't help me out in the arena.

It's a bit scary having to adjust your mind to be okay with the thought of killing somebody. There's no way to go back now though, I just have to have the winner's mindset and repair any damage after the Games. I'll be rich enough to afford therapy; I wasn't a murderer before I volunteered and for now that still holds true. I'm going to become a killer, but it's not like I _want _to. Intent is what's important, I would never kill somebody if it didn't fall into the whole 'Hunger Games' set of circumstances.

My head's spinning, I know this isn't healthy. I've done fairly well so far - I should be focusing on that. For a moment I find myself alone in line next to Marie-Lynn and I think I've earned a reward, I deserve a little conversation to get my mind off murder.

I put my hands in my pockets and laugh to myself as if I've thought of something really funny.

Sure enough, Marie-Lynn looks at me. "What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking about how you volunteered for the Games, even though there's never been a female winner, and you're _already_ pretty much smoking everyone training. People must have thought you were nuts for volunteering, but you've definitely got a fighting chance. You might be the biggest competitor here."

Now she laughs. "Well, I'd like to think I volunteered knowing I had some of the skills that you need in the arena rather than just because I'm a really big fan of the Games who thinks I know people well enough to get them to do whatever I want."

I'm completely taken aback, was that an _insult?_ How does she know I'm a fan of the Games, and I don't think I know people enough to get them to do whatever I want, I'm starting an alliance, there's a difference. Has- has she been watching me?

She goes on. "Surprised? '_Has she been watching me?' _the District Two meathead had the same look. Don't worry, you're not the only one who thinks it's impossible for a girl to know how to win."

"I don't think it's impos-"

"Don't think it's impossible? Would you ever team up with a girl? Of course not, the Capitol would think you're cah-_ray_-zy. It's such a radical idea that no one's ever even tried it. Too bad you weren't smart enough to come up with it on your own, huh?"

She sticks her bottom lip out at me in an over-exaggerated frown before the spear throwing instructor calls her name to step forward to throw. Her spear impales the dummy right in the gut and she cheers in delight to Eileen, who joins into the celebration.

_What just happened?_

Was it just me or did it sound like she wanted to work with me? Thinking back to my conversation at lunch with Everett, she was sitting fairly close to me; she could have heard our plans. If she heard our plans, she'd know I'm smart and that I know how to play the Games.

I wasn't just using a cheap pick-up line when I said she was smoking the rest of us. Looking around the room, she's definitely the most talented person here and working with her would be the sort of unexpected thing that would get me a ton of sponsors.

The only problem is that I can't stop the train already in motion, the forming of my alliance with William.

I don't think I could just add her to the group; she probably wouldn't want to work with all of us if she can handle herself so well on her own. I'm so confused that I almost don't notice when it's my turn to throw and when I make it to the tossing range, my spear just clatters to the ground meters away from any of the targets.

One of the gamemakers speaks from their nook above the center. "Training has now ended for the day, you may return to your quarters."

I turn to look for William, but suddenly someone's right behind me, whispering in my ear. "Relax Everett; I know what you're thinking. Keep forming your little crowd, no one ever said you can't have _two _alliances."

I feel her hair tease across my collarbone as she turns to leave, just as quickly as she came. I get chills that bring forth Goosebumps on my arms. For a moment I'm frozen with both shock and excitement. Having a secret alliance – it's so incredibly enticing. I'd be an instant hit with not just the Capitol, but _everyone _watching for sure.

Marie-Lynn's clearly smart enough to know what my answer to her preposition is. I've still got tomorrow with her in my rotation group to work out any kinks, but being a double agent with her is something that I definitely can't turn down.

I can't tell William about this. I can't tell _Dredd_ about this, he'd think I was insane. I'll just have to keep my space from Dredd and trust that once I get into the Games he'll be able to keep up enough to get me sponsors.

Marie-Lynn told me to keep building my boy's alliance, so that I will. I spot William waiting around by one of the elevators with Ayler and make my way over towards them.

Ayler smiles when he sees me coming. "Everett, man, _The Mastermind_, I like the way you think kid."

I smile and look to William. "I take it that means you got Ayler here to agree to work with us."

"You bet," William says, clearly pleased.

"Fantastic, fantastic," I nod along, feeling buzzed with how perfectly this is all coming together.

Ayler nods again. "I'm all up for the plans, boy this year's going to be one to watch, eh gents?"

"It sure is."

* * *

**My my, it seems there's been a change of the plans**

**Have any thoughts on what's happened? I'd love to hear from you in the reviews**

**Watch for the Eagle!**


	4. Four

**Sorry for the pause in updates... I read homestuck...**

**heehee**

**This one's pretty dialogue heavy, I'm sorry. That's the way it tends to go when you introduce three new characters in one chapter -.-'**

The next day brings much of the same before I go to the training center. We wake up, eat, and dress while Dredd and Kristen to talk alone for a few minutes. I notice that as District partners, we're drifting farther and farther apart. When I think about it, it's probably a good thing. If I make friends with her then end up having to kill her, there's probably quite a few people at home who'd take issue with me.

We'll work on getting Preston, Trawl, Jason, and Dai Lao to join us today. It's unfortunate that William's so certain Jarratt won't get with the group. I would go talk to the guy myself, but alliances fail when they stop trusting each other. Right now, it's probably just best to roll with something like this rather than to get William mad at me.

Down at the training center, William and Ayler walk over to me immediately.

"So," William says.

"We were thinking," Ayler continues.

"We think we should split up to get the rest of the guys to join us," William finishes.

I nod in agreement. "That's what I was thinking too."

William's eyes light up excitedly. "Really? Fantastic!"

I wasn't thinking that at all, actually. I was so busy thinking about Marie Lynn that I totally missed the ball on planning out how to get the rest of our crew together. It worries me a bit that Ayler and William "were thinking" without me, but I still have my deal with William to protect me from mutiny as reassurance. Besides, he's standing closer to me than he is to Ayler, that must be a sure sign that he's more comfortable with me.

"It just works out because that way, you know, we can talk to people without them feeling like they're being antagonized by a group; make it more personal," the tall boy finishes.

"Plus, I think some of us would be better at talking to some guys over the others," Ayler says. I'm not sure whether that's him being modest about his lackluster conversational abilities, or a tiny shot at William and I. I'm pretty sure I could talk to anyone, except maybe Preston, whereas Ayler might have a lot of trouble with quite a few people.

I admit that I may have burnt a bridge with Preston, so William decides that he'll take him on. Ayler's going to talk to Dai Lao, so that leaves me with Trawl, or Jason.

The choice is fairly simple. "I think we should leave Jason until we see who else is up for the plan. He could probably do some damage on his own, I bet we're going to have to present him with a deal he can't say no to."

Plans in place, we split up to start the campaign. As soon as my focus is away from the group, I notice that a lot of the tributes were watching us talk. We're pretty much the only group who's surfaced so far, save for a couple of District pairs who nervously stand around with each other. There's always a few of those though, that's nothing new.

Marie Lynn was one of those who were watching. I make eye contact with her from across the room. She's leaning against the wall, observing everyone mill about. I check to make sure William and Ayler aren't looking before I start walking towards her. She notices and instantly shoots me some daggers. Taken aback, I slow down. She keeps glaring at me until I stop, then smiles, tips her head, and walks away.

_Women. _

Either she's decided to go back on her deal, or she doesn't want me to initiate conversation. Last time she talked to me, it was pretty far below the radar, so I could understand if she wanted to be the one who pioneers exchange between the two of us.

I've never met a girl this smart before. If she weren't going to die, I'd definitely make a move.

Attention back to the task at hand, I find Trawl at the fire starting station. I came here yesterday and the instructor told me that she doubted I need to come back again, but there's no way I could pull off suggesting to him that we switch stations without looking too assertive.

William and Ayler were definitely onto something when they said we don't want to intimidate anybody too much, so I suppose I could go over and offer to help him? Would that be too forward, too nice? I mean, I could see myself doing that to one of the smaller tributes, or a girl, but this is an eighteen year old guy. If our positions were switched and he did that to me, I'm not sure how I'd react.

Aw heck, I'm just going to do it.

Walking confidently, I crouch down next to him and rip some of the dry grass out of the fake turf. He watches me as I straighten out the strands to stoke the flame. I focus on getting the fire going and don't notice that Trawl dropped his hands from the fire and stood up until I'm staring at his shoes.

"Is this some sort of icebreaker, because really bro, you're not my type," he says, looking down at me.

"Wh- what? Icebreaker? No, no. Well not really – not like that at least. I mean-"

He takes a step back. "I don't wanna insult you or anything, I don't know why you came over here, but I think you probably want to be allies and I don't. Sorry, I don't know how to say that nicely."

Introductory strike-out number two. _What am I doing wrong? _That makes two guys, Jarratt and Trawl, who have made it clear that they don't want anything to do with me.

Trawl is looking at me funny. _Oh right, I have to say something._ Two and a half days in the Capitol and I've completely lost all social skills.

I stand up to meet his face. "Yeah, I get it - it's okay. No hard feelings… uh, good luck."

He stares at me until I walk away, and then starts working on another fire. I find myself at a weapons station before I turn around to look again. A flush of pride washes over me when I see that he's using dry grass the same way I did before. At least I helped him out a bit, even if I couldn't sell him on essentially the best deal that would ever come up. I don't want to be the tribute that swears to take down everyone who says no to them. If I want to win, it's obvious that everyone else has to go, getting angry at targeting a certain person is only going to mess up my head.

"Um hello? Everett?" I turn around to see William and Preston behind me, confused.

"Oh hey."

"How'd it go with Trawl?"

Deflated, I explain to him what happened. Preston just listens intently with wide eyes.

William lets out a low whistle once I've finished and an uncomfortable moment of silence passes. "Well, I don't think it's anything you did. Sounds like he just doesn't want to be in an alliance."

"I guess so," I say, still peeved off that I had to be the one to get shot down. Remembering the other person in front of me, I turn to Preston. "So William told you about what we're planning?"

Preston nods. "Yeah."

"Great!" I say, realizing afterwards that I spat out that response before I had even processed what he said; he didn't confirm whether he wanted to be a part of it or not yet. _There I go again, just assuming everyone wants to be a part of my group._ I still think that there's no reason not to join, but both Trawl and Jarratt are ammunition against that idea. When it becomes clears Preston's not going to say anything more, I prod him. "And?"

"Oh, well I'm really flattered that you want me in the group. I guess I'd be happy to join you guys if you want."

William shakes his hand. "Fantastic, we're probably gonna go over the plan at lunch again with everybody."

"Okay," Preston nods. "Um, I'm going to go do some training if that's okay."

Preston says his goodbyes, making plans with us to meet at lunch. William and I go over to one of the many weapons stations to talk.

"Why do you think Trawl didn't go for the plan?" William asks, picking through the sword stack for one he wants to practice with.

"It seemed like he really just wanted to be left alone. Like he wanted to play by himself."

"That's stupid. He'd last longer in a group with people to protect him. Having at least a few people in the arena who aren't hunting you down would definitely lift the pressure a bit."

"I don't get it either, he's not even from a good District. If he was from One or Four where they've each got a couple winners I could understand him thinking he'd have a chance on his own. Three's never done well."

"Maybe he's one of those tributes that doesn't want to kill anybody," William whispers while the station instructor swaps his chosen sword with a smaller, more modest one.

The instructor tries to get his attention. "I have met tenth-year swordsmanship students who cannot wield that blade, you start with this one."

William nods absently to the stocky Capitol trainer, accepting the new sword and trying to act like he's not too hurt. I locate Trawl in the room, who's now shifted to a combat station where he's holding his own fairly well.

My partner follows my gaze, letting his lifted weapon lower. "Or he's plotting against us."

* * *

William and I try to make it look like we haven't pre-planned the seating arrangement for lunch, but in fact, it's all we did between rounds of sword, bow, and staff/stick practice. The two of us sit across from each other at the front of the group with Preston on one side and Dai Lao and Ayler on the other.

Dai Lao does his introductions, praising our plan and his excitement to be a part of it. On the scale of eccentric characters, I'd peg him below Ayler, but definitely above myself. I'm suddenly relieved that we sent Ayler to recruit him.

Halfway through our explanation of the plan, Dai Lao interrupts. "So why isn't Jason in the group?"

Everyone turns to him. He just sits there smiling and I completely lose my train of thought and speech. He has more guts than I do, interrupting the leader of a group he _just_ joined.

Ayler, Preston, and William look to me to answer. "Well, we're planning on inviting him."

"When?" Dai Lao asks. "I'm just wondering cause he's a really good fighter. He's like that guy! You know, Cynth Spears!"

He must mean Cynth Spires, the first – and completely overrated – victor. The guy was just pure strength, of course the Capitol loved it, but I saw through it. His sponsors and size were what allowed him to win, anyone who thinks he's someone to admire clearly doesn't know the games very well.

I can't resist the urge to correct him. "Cynth Spires, you mean?"

Unsurprisingly, he ignores me. "I'll go talk to him if you want."

"No- uh that's okay, I mean, I think we were going to just talk to him as a group."

William nods, taking the conversational baton. "Yeah that's definitely the direction we're going to go, we've already worked it out."

I think Dai Lao takes the hint to quit talking over top of us, because he shrinks into his meal. Before I get a chance to re-re-explain the rules of the group, William asks me if he should go invite Jason over. I approve the idea and he politely excuses himself.

Jason and William have what looks to be like a friendly conversation and the two of them return to our group, all smiles. It hasn't been the smoothest flowing introduction to my plan, but I can't allow myself to get down and lose hold of the leadership.

Jason's round of introductions takes place, we tell him what the group stands for and everyone shakes on it. It's only now that I realize we've attracted the attention of almost every loner tribute in the room.

To my surprise however, some of those loner tributes don't seem so lonesome. What looks to be a secondary alliance made up of two girls and one boy is glaring at our group from across the dining hall. Preston is the only other guy in our group who seems to take notice of the crowd of three and shoots a worried look at me. He's a quiet guy, but I think I can tell what he's thinking; the only thing that can stand up to one alliance is another that's angry about being excluded.

Well, that and a leader with a blonde, five-foot seven second agenda.

**Trying to get through this quickly to get to the action, thanks to anyone who's reading!**


	5. Five

It turns out that Preston and Jason were together yesterday for mandatory training, but hadn't talked at all.

"I'm glad to know that you're not planning how to kill me now," Preston laughs.

Jason looks at him calmly. "Well I'm still planning how to kill you, once we split up we are going to have to kill each other."

Preston drops his fork, Ayler chokes momentarily on what he's eating. The clatter of Preston's fork against the tile makes the rest of us jump and turn heatedly to Jason, who looks up placidly.

He shrugs, hunched over his tray. "Plus, you said the number of kills we get in the arena decides who gets what weapons, so it's stupid not to plan how to kill people."

"Who gets what weapon is decided only by our kills at the Cornucopia and sponsor gifts. Once the bloodbath's over they don't count for anything," I elude.

"Oh," Jason says, finally showing a smidgen of emotion. "Yeah... alright, that makes sense, okay."

I can't be sure if he thinks it makes sense for the same reason I do. I don't want anybody arguing over kills, or feeling the need to get rid anybody in the group who gets on their nerves in order to get ahead in our standings. Hopefully if the motive of that crucial advantage isn't there, it will keep murderous rampages to a minimum. In the past, there haven't been precautions like this and tributes have killed all of their allies in their sleep.

William solidifies my ideas further. "We're in this group to help each other out and up our chances of getting to the end. Tributes on their own barely ever make it past week one."

Solemn nods pass around the table, all except for Preston, who's busy taking a subtle glance at the group of three tributes on the other side of the room.

Almost all of us have finished our meals and the gamemaker from yesterday comes in to tell us that we're to start our mandatory training. Everyone in the room stands and starts to move towards their stations, leaving their trays for the servants to clean up.

I intercept a nervous-looking Preston to see if he's alright. "Hey, sorry about Jason. He was kind of harsh, but I don't think it was meant to be aimed specifically at you. I think he's just one of those people-"

"Yeah, it's alright, I was being stupid."

I just shrug, he was being a little soft for the circumstances, but I'm pretty sure we all cry before we fall asleep; no one's in any position to shoot anyone down for trying to be friendly.

He makes another glance at the group of three, who are looking towards me and him. Now that our group has spread out, it becomes clear that before, when I thought they were glaring at our group, they were actually just scowling at Preston.

I lower my voice. "What's up with those guys?"

Preston looks surprised that I noticed. "Oh, well they're nothing. I mean, they asked me to be in an alliance before you guys, and I said I might, but I'd rather be with you guys. I'm not working with them at all though, I'm one hundred percent loyal. Honently."

As glad as I am that he's so loyal, that's a shot to the heart. I've been planning this since I was thirteen and I'm going against what I've said, but a guy who barely knows me can swear his loyalty. For a second I feel bad, everyone here trusts me wholeheartedly. This is the Hunger Games though; I'm going to be doing worse to people than lying to them.

I try to laugh earnestly. "Don't worry, it's okay, I trust you."

His eyes light up a lot hearing that.

"Do you even know them?" I continue, trying to gather information. Just because they're a smaller group, doesn't mean they don't pose a threat. If there's anyone we should try to target, it should be them.

"The bigger girl from Five's name is Tsoma… Uh, I don't know the others' names but we could check on the board."

I stop him before he turns to look. "No, that's alright, we know their Districts. It looks like the boy is her District partner, the other girl's from Twelve, and that guy from Three."

_Wait a second- the guy from Three is Trawl. Oh hell no. _

Now it's my turn to glare at them. Their clan of three has sprouted a fourth branch in the form of the guy who just told me he didn't want to be in an alliance.

Preston was there when I told William about what Trawl had said to me and now looks at me with pity. "Man, I'm sorry… wow that guy's a piece of work."

Engaged in a full spurt of fury, I don't bother responding to Preston. Tsoma, who must be the leader of the group, it talking to Trawl, using an excessive amount of hand gestures. She points at me from across the room and Trawl turns to look, then nods back at her. I wish I was close enough to hear what they were saying.

All of a sudden, Trawl takes a step back. He shakes his head in the way one would to indicate 'no' and turns to walk towards his training station. Tsoma just stands there, arms frozen out in some ridiculous position. The boy and girl circle around to stand in front and console her. I think I just witnessed them getting rejected.

I start laughing, clapping a hand on Preston's shoulder. "Did you see that? He turned them down too!"

The group of kids across the room looks flattened, it's only Tsoma who dares to look up from her feet and gives me the most intense look of loathing I've ever seen, directly in my eyes.

I can't help but turn around to cut off her gaze. Almost everyone's already at their stations. Preston looks anxious to go, so I say my goodbyes and walk over to the swords station where Marie Lynn and the rest of my group wait.

I was at the sword station earlier, but I'd like to learn some more of it. Not only should it prove useful, but it's thrilling and my last girlfriend, Sheryl-lyn, thought it was astonishingly charming.

"Hey coach," Marie Lynn appears out of nowhere behind me.

I jump, whipping around, meeting her anything-but-serious posture and let out a sigh. "Glad to know you only want to use your way of talking, rather than go back on your deal."

She frowns. "When you say it like that it makes me sound cocky."

"I don't know you well enough to say if you're cocky."

"And that's exactly how I'm planning it," she smiles.

"Hmm… maybe I should take that back…"

She laughs. "You got your boys together?"

"Yeah, Preston, Ayler, Jason, Dai Lao, and William," I list off.

"That's everyone?"

I nod. "Yeah, we couldn't get Trawl or Jarratt to join."

She shakes her head and me and explains that Jarratt isn't the type to want to join me. _Oh that's right, he's her District partner. _

I ask if I should worry about him and she shakes her head no. "He's not stupid enough to hunt down a group."

That's a huge relief. Even though I'm picking up on the basics of some weapons pretty well, Jarratt's got quite a few pounds of muscle on me.

She brings the conversation back to our group. "So you're sure you're not going to ask anybody to be with you guys last minute?"

"No, I'm fine with who we've got," I say. "How's this going to work between the two of us, though? I can't exactly talk to you in the arena."

"Sure you can. Whenever you're the only one around, if the group goes hunting or you're keeping guard at night – you're going to keep guard at night, right?"

"Oh hell yeah."

"So whenever you're on your own, I'll come talk to you."

That's a bit creepy. So she's just going to follow us around and wait for me to be alone?

I pretend not to be surprised. "And we're just doing this to get sponsors right?"

"What?" She looks dumbfounded. "No, what would be in it for me, then? I can get sponsors on my own."

_Okay, yeah, cocky. Just a tad. _

She presses on. "I need your help at the Cornucopia. I'm going to be a big target after training scores, if you get your guys not to go after me, I'll help you out. I know some of the guys in your group are shady as heck. If any of them get out of hand and you can't get rid of them, I can do it for you."

It's tempting. Dai Lao's social ignorance scared me a bit today, plus Jason could destroy the group if he set his mind to it. However, for the moment, I don't want anybody gone. The deal's starting to look somewhat one-sided. I take a step back, seriously considering dropping out.

She sees my reluctance and keeps going. "_Or_, I could help you target anybody that you're worried is going to come after you."

That's more of an interesting preposition. Not only did I just get the world's deadliest glare from Tsoma, but Trawl is starting to worry me a bit as well. Marie Lynn isn't a bad fighter, she could take them out for me, or at least help me to do so.

"Plus, we can share tips and observations inside the arena. Oh and you're going to get sponsors for being a double agent," she shrugs, as if that isn't the amazing offer that it is.

I'm feeling comfortable again, this is the type of thing I was hoping to hear. "Can you kill Tsoma's group for me? And Trawl?"

"I can try."

Wow, I feel ugly. I just ordered the death of regular kids, solely because they didn't agree with me. I didn't think this would be a place I'd have to go, but the more I think of it, the more inescapable it seems. It still doesn't feel right though, I already feel guilty and nothing's even happened. I'm not used to feeling guilty just because of my thoughts. These don't feel like my thoughts, as if my mind has been swapped out.

"Don't worry," Marie Lynn reads my reluctancy yet again. "There's no cameras here, I won't tell anyone you're homicidal. The only ones who might hear you are the gamemakers and in that case you should talk a little louder."

None of the gamemakers are looking at me; I think they think of the mandatory stations as a bit of a vacation opportunity.

I force a laugh, just so that I don't look too uptight.

Marie Lynn smiles at me. "I have to go talk to Eileen now. I told her I think you're an arrogant prick and she'll be wondering why I talked to you for so long. We won't get a chance to talk again before the games. Good luck, don't skewer yourself."

**Off with their heads!**


	6. Six

The sun rises on training day three and I remain skewer-free. I've taken up a lot of knowledge so far, not enough to deem me an expert in anything, but I can pick up almost any type of weapon and use it as help rather than hindrance. Today I'm going to buckle down into the practical stations like food and water, then refresh on weapons before the private sessions.

I say hello to all of our guys and tell them we're going to meet for lunch again. Everyone agrees and heads their separate way for training. The gamemakers and all of the other tributes watch the members of our group now. Who knew that something as simple as whom you hung out with could skyrocket you to the top of the pyramid?

The safe plants station has been popular all week. Today, there's less people there than usual, I suspect most tributes are picking up some weapons skills for the private training sessions this afternoon. The private training is a new addition as of last year. Sponsors had no way of judging physical ability to help them choose who to fund, so the gamemakers added it in to the last day of training.

I want to get a good training score, but nothing too good. A number high enough to get me noticed without making me look like the toughest of my alliance.

I read about the solo training sessions in one of the Capitol magazines, really it's just a chance to show off. I haven't actually figured out what I'm going to do yet, but it's got to be something spectacular.

Feeling comfortable with what I've learned, I move around to other survival stations. When I pass by one of my old favourites, I realize what I'm going to do when I'm alone. The rest of the day I practice the things I'll need and make sure the stunt will actually work.

We all meet at the same table as yesterday to eat and sit more or less in the same arrangement. Ayler and Dai Lao were already talking about the individual training, so the rest of us just sit tight and listen to their plans for a bit.

Once they've done talking, Jason clears his throat. "Why isn't Trawl in the group?"

"He didn't want to be," I say.

Jason considers this for a bit. "He seemed pretty friendly to me when we were training together."

"You were practicing together? What station?" William asks.

"Spears and swords," Jason shrugs. "He broke this year's record for fastest time to take down the trainer in swords."

William and I exchange a millisecond of nervous energy. Preston glances at me from down the table.

Ayler joins in. "Now that we've got everybody together, I'm sure he'll change his mind if we asked him."

This is bad. I told Marie Lynn that the group was final as it currently is. I also asked her to target Trawl, but that's not my main worry. If I change up the plan without her knowing, she might get psyched out and do something rash; my life could be on the line. Somehow I have to diffuse the motion of including Trawl without looking suspicious.

"He keeps looking at us," Jason whispers.

Reluctantly, we all take cautious glances. Sure enough, Trawl's eye dances around our group more than a museum exhibit.

"I'll go get him," Dai Lao offers.

"I don't know guys," I edge in.

Jason looks towards William and I. "I say majority decides. I'm all for it."

Ayler nods. "Same."

"He's too big a threat to not have on our side," Dai Lao says.

Relief floods over me, we're a group of six; there is no majority.

A fourth voice pipes up. "I'm in."

My head whips to face where the voice came from, William. _No. _

Before I can stop myself, I glare at him, giving him a look that demands explanation.

"If he's not with us, he's gonna come after us. We're the biggest threats," he shrugs, looking guilty.

Dai Lao gets up to leave. I could stop him, sure, but that would be incredibly dangerous. My whole safety as a leader depends on me not becoming too controlling. I can't argue against the majority now that my safety net of William has voted against me.

Painfully, I watch Dai Lao go and get the boy from Three. Whatever he says to him, it works. Trawl returns, tray in hand and melts into the group.

Trawl tells us about his life, how his dad is a weapons instructor and taught him how to fight in case he ever got Reaped. Everyone takes turns explaining our rules and Trawl agrees eagerly. The entire time all I can picture is Marie Lynn carrying my head on a stake.

William notices my discomfort. "He can't come after us now," he whispers.

I nod, wishing that was the problem. Marie Lynn's on the other side of the room, not looking at me. I can understand that she wants to keep us as conspicuous as possible, so naturally she wouldn't look at me. A small part of me wishes that she would though, so that I could somehow communicate my disagreement with the group's decision.

In a quick calculation I decide its best to keep true to our silence rather than try to talk to her about Trawl later. If something doesn't work out, failing an attempt to talk to her might make things even worse than they just became.

The best I can hope is that she somehow understands that I didn't add Trawl to the group on purpose and still goes after him at the bloodbath. Now that he's in my alliance, I definitely can't kill him, but I still don't trust the guy for anything he's worth.

* * *

The Training Center is lonely when you're the only one in there. My footsteps echo, the only other sound is the monitors and soundtracks of various stations and the quiet chatter of the gamemakers above. I know I've only got fifteen minutes, so I introduce myself and head straight for the fire making station.

The only trainers in the center now are sparring partners, so there's no one to help me get the fire started. Thankfully, it looks like all of the supplies are fully stocked, so I quickly pick out some fast-burning Cedar and get my fire going.

It doesn't have to be big, but it has to be hot. Once I have quite a good flame, I grab some hardwood and delicately toss it on my pile.

It was an impressively quick fire, but definitely not enough to get me anywhere near the score I want. I'm not finished yet though and I've still got five minutes left.

I run across the room to my second station of interest, grab what I need and run back to my fire. As soon as I get there, I thrust what I collected, the thinnest sword from the rack, directly into the base of my fire.

I can hear some of the gamemakers laughing. I laugh a bit too when I realize how idiotic this must look to them; the brilliant tribute from District Four, the boy who stabbed the fire.

After forty-five seconds I pull out the sword, instantly stopping any laughing gamemakers. Three minutes, forty-five seconds left.

Just according to plan, my sword is red hot and glowing, an impressive piece of weaponry.

Without losing a second, I sprint back over to the sword station and ask the sparring partner to fight me. He looks happy to, clearly impressed by my glowing sword.

I fight exactly like I learned, blocking his blows and occasionally striking when there's a chance. Of course, I never actually hit him, he's too fast for that, but I take pride in the fact that I stop almost every single one of his swings.

The only problem is that every time his sword meets the glowing part of mine, mine bends a little. It's not enough to be noticeable for the gamemakers, but it throws me off whenever it happens.

I wonder how much the gamemakers even know about sword fighting and decide that they can't know too much. With that, I start to get more dramatic with my fighting, adding in some sound effects and even spinning once or twice.

I can see the laughter in the sparring partner's eyes, but I just keep grunting on, trying to ignore my quickly cooling, misshapen blade.

The timer goes off, my session is over. I can easily say that was the fastest fifteen minutes of my life. A few of the gamemakers clap, but most of them just turn to their tablets.

"A fair fight for an apprentice," the sparring partner says, taking my sword from me. I notice that he doesn't put it back on the rack; it's too out of shape to be used again.

He smiles at me. "But maybe next time, we leave the sword shaping to the blacksmiths."

I can't really tell if it's a joke or an insult, but it doesn't matter so long as the gamemakers were impressed.

To my surprise, the scoring at the sword station is still active for individual training. The machine whirrs for a moment before giving me a score of 5.4 out of ten. It also displays my record overall in training, 6.1. I guess the bending metal of my sword threw me off more than I thought. It will be interesting to see how this plays in to my session score.

To my shock, the other lists of scores have changed since the last time I was here, too. As of a few hours ago, the highest sword sparring score any of our year's tributes is an 8.2 from Trawl. I shudder, Trawl just won't stop haunting me. Jason is in second place with 6.7. Below that is my old score. I'm ranked third overall with my score from yesterday, but my performance just now wasn't enough to even get me on the table.

Trawl's name also adorns the overall high score table, coming in third place. That means that out of all of the tributes to have ever been in the Hunger Games, he is the third-best sword fighter. It sends chills down my spine.

The head gamemaker speaks into his microphone. "Thank you tribute, you may now leave."

* * *

Dredd sits with Kristen and I on the couch, waiting for our training scores to be broadcast.

"How do you think you did, Everett?" he asks.

"I figure I'll be in the double digits."

He lurches forward. "What did you do in there?"

I explain it to him while Kristen listens. He nods a couple of times, but overall his expression stays very mild.

He asks Kristen what she did. She says she just did some of the survival stations that she was good at. Dredd cheerfully tells her that that was a good plan.

He addresses both of us again. "You won't get twelves. It sounds harsh, but I'm just being realistic. The gamemakers score a lot more reasonably than you'd think. Remember that the scores represent how high of a chance you have of winning. Getting a really high score like a ten, eleven, or twelve means there's almost no question you can hold your own."

_He's probably just trying to make Kristen feel better_. I don't like to lowball my standards, I'd rather know what's coming and not have to prepare for the worst case.

The TV turns on automatically when the broadcast begins. The announcers explain the purpose of the training scores to the people watching, and then get straight into the numbers.

Preston pulls an eight, that's good; he should fit well into the group. Ayler gets a seven, which is a lot lower than I had expected for him. However, he's only fifteen, the youngest of the alliance.

"Preston and Ayler both got very respectable scores, they'll be people to watch out for," Dredd explains like we're a bunch of idiots. He doesn't know about my alliance with them and he certainly doesn't know that the biggest scores are yet to come.

Trawl's District partner is next, my blood starts pumping when I realize that his score is about to come. The announcer scoffs in amazement, Trawl got a ten.

_That's it?!_ I was expecting a twelve for him, eleven at least, especially after what Dredd said. Remembering the sword station scores, my face pales. Trawl is the best sword fighter of our year, maybe I was a little off in my expectations.

But who knows, maybe the diversity I showed with my session will push my score up the table.

Jason scores a nine and I start to panic. This can't be real; they both can't have scored that low.

Tsoma, the girl from the opposing alliance, gets a six. At least that's a good sign; people will sponsor our alliance over theirs.

Dredd puts his arm around Kristen right before her name comes up. The announcer nods with respect, Kristen scores a five.

"That's fantastic, Kristen!" Dredd cheers. Kristen smiles for probably the first time since we got to the Capitol. I smile at her, it's something nice I can do before I permanently scar my conscience. Also, it helps cut my nerves for what's coming.

It's like the announcers are speaking in slow motion. _Is it just me or did the volume of the broadcast suddenly go down?_

"Everett, the male tribute from District Six has scored a very reputable seven."

"Nice job Everett!" Dredd claps me on the back. Kristen smiles at me, but I do anything but smile back.

Next thing I know, I'm standing and walking angrily behind the couch. A seven is ridiculous; no one's going to want to sponsor me. In no way does a seven reflect how well I know this game, I could run circles around any tribute who deserves a seven.

I can't take Dredd's cheerful banter, so I stomp out of the room to my bedroom. Unfortunately, the TV in there is on too, filling the requirement that every person in Panem watch the training scores.

I've missed the scores from District Seven, they weren't important anyways.

A little bit of satisfaction comes when Dai Lao scores a six. At least, _at least, _I won't have the lowest score of the team.

Marie Lynn is next. _Oh God Marie Lynn is next._ What is she thinking about my mediocre seven? She pulls a nine, an amazing score for a girl. In fact, it's higher than any girl got last year. Jarratt follows closely with an eight.

William's the last score I care about. He gets an eight too. Trawl not included, that means half of our team got sevens or lower and half got eights or higher. My score isn't as bad as it seemed at first when you factor in the comparison to my allies. I still don't consider Trawl an ally, since there's a fair chance he's going down in the bloodbath.

Dredd knocks on my door and tries to get me to come out. I throw the TV remote in the direction of his knocking, making the batteries pop out and roll across the floor.

I'm too angry to talk right now, angry that Dredd knew the games better than I did and ultimately that I was wrong. Even if a seven still puts me in the top ten, I verbally announced that I thought I'd do better. I can't stand that they know I was wrong. I know I'm being a coward, I want to take it like a man, but for the first time since I've gotten here, I'm afraid I might die.

**I tried to make the training scores clear, but here's a recap in case you missed them:**

**(D1) Preston- 8**

**(D2) Ayler- 7**

**(D3) Trawl- 10**

**(D4) Jason- 9**

**(D5) Tsoma- 6 (leader of opposing alliance) **

**(D6) Everett- 7**

**(D6) Kristen- 5**

**(D8) Dai Lao- 6**

**(D9) Marie Lynn- 9**

**(D9) Jarratt- 8**

**(D10) William- 8**

**These are just the scores of anyone who's been a fairly big part of the story so far, I didn't want to write twenty four scores and totally confuse everyone. **

**If you like how the story's going, I'd really appreciate a follow :D**


	7. Seven

I wake up with a stone in my stomach. Dredd didn't even come to wake me up. I expect he doesn't want to talk to me, even though we're supposed to practice for my interview. I already know what I want to say, plus he'd probably spend most of the time with Kristen anyways.

Still angry about my training score, I pass most of the day in my room before going to meet with my stylist again.

There are people in the Capitol who tell stories on TV, there are people that cook things on TV, there are people who get filmed shopping on TV. Then there's James Catroll. James Catroll is _the_ Hunger Games guy. Not only does he interview the Tributes, he narrates the Games, making comments on everything that happens. In the off-season, he is present for interviews about how the next arena is coming, interviews with past victors, and more interviews with Gamemakers.

If you could ever pick someone to interview you, it would be him. I've seen him pull an interview with a sobbing four year old out of the gutter. I'm pretty sure if aliens came to Earth, we could give them James Catroll and they would leave happy. Forget introverts and extroverts, he has his own personality type.

What I admire about him so much is that he's probably one of the few people in Panem who knows more about the Games than I do.

Standing by the elevator, I find myself again waiting for a girl to get ready. I'm wearing a suit that might as well be the same one I wore for the chariot rides. Kristen is apparently getting into an ensemble that's even grander than her chariot outfit and I'm the one who has to suffer through waiting.

I'm about to gnaw my own hand off in boredom when she finally emerges. The outfit isn't even that great, it's just a dress. I honestly can't figure out what took that long to get ready, but I guess that's the male in me talking.

Before the interviews begin, I'll need to talk to my alliance about who we're going to target at the Cornucopia.

A few more moments of my life are spent in silence during another awkward elevator ride. It gets even more awkward as we pick up more and more tributes on the way down and eventually every time the doors open we have to go through the whole "can-I-fit-oh-sorry-I-guess-I-can't" "no-wait-I'll-move-oh-sorry-didn't-mean-to-elbow-y ou" "no-really-it's-okay-I'll-just-catch-the-other-one -wait-there-is-no-other-one-better-make-room," routine. Normally it wouldn't be that bad, except some people's costumes are really extravagant and are impossible to fit easily into the cramped space. The girl from Seven's sticks must have swatted me in the face at least four times.

Eventually I end up pressed chest-to-chest with Preston. It doesn't help that he's significantly taller than I am, so I end up staring at his chin and can't even make conversation.

To my dismay though, somewhere deep inside that pretty little head of his, he finds the will speak. "Uh, how's it going?"

"Fine, fine, good."

Ayler laughs at us from across the elevator.

"Didn't even know you were in here, Ayler," I shout.

"Probably my fault," Says William, who I had previously thought was Jarratt. "I've kinda got him pinned in the corner here."

To everyone's relief, the elevator doors open. We all pile out quickly, visibly trying to forget that that just happened. The doors shut quickly. A switchboard next to the solitary elevator indicates that floors 12, 11, 9, and 5 have all requested it the next time it comes up. Looks like it's going to be another packed ride down for those kids.

_Ah the little quirks of the Hunger Games that the audience doesn't get to see._

Trawl, Jason, and Dai Lao who had all watched us get out are now surpressing laughter. Dai Lao's face is in particular is almost purple. It was funny, but it wasn't _that _funny.

"Good afternoon gentlemen," Ayler greets them. Everyone exchanges nods.

"I thought we should go over the plan for when we first get into the Arena," I say. "I think the best idea is to go after the group with that girl from Five, uh, Tsoma. They're the only other group so I think we'd be smart to get them out of the way. So when we get in there, everyone has to go towards the Cornucopia and grab the first weapon they see. We'll take control of all of the supplies and take them with us when we leave."

Jason speaks up. "So we're all going to go after three tiny kids?"

"No, no, of course not. If you get the chance to go after someone else, do it. We just don't want any of them to get away."

Everyone agrees to the idea, some of them look a little off-put by it, but no one protests. Trawl seems eager to agree with me, I can't help but think that it's an act.

A stage person comes to line us up for the interviews and I start feeling anxious. Not only having I been waiting for this moment for years, I've been planning it too. As long as James goes along with what I'm trying to do, it should go well enough to abolish my less-than-ideal training score.

In no time we're being ushered on stage to our semi-circle of chairs behind James'. For the next portion of the evening, I will be a background feature of one of the biggest broadcasts of the year. Every television in all of Panem will be turned on and I will be 'that guy from Six' peeking out behind James' stylized cowlick.

The only advice I took from Dredd was to not listen to the interviews before mine. Now is the time to focus on myself, I will be winning the Games, not my alliance. As tempting as it is to lose myself in what my allies say, it will only make me more nervous for my interview.

With that, I turn my attention to the audience, focusing particularly on a freaky woman in the front row with a fake third eye. At least I hope it's fake.

Before I know it, its Kristen's turn and I will be going next. Three minutes go by.

_Here we go._

I stand up when James introduces me, shaky at the knees. _Is the audience cheering? I could hear them cheering for everyone else_, _why aren't they cheering for me?_

After a few seconds, my hearing clicks back in and it turns out at yes, in fact, the audience was cheering quite loudly. James welcomes me to a set of plush chairs; I shake his hand and sit down, smiling wider than I ever have before.

James speaks first. "Everett, we're very glad to have you here."

"Thanks James, I'm excited to meet you. I'm a huge fan of the Games."

"So I've heard! And how about that alliance of yours, I think we're all very excited to see you guys working together," he nods to me, smiling. The audience cheers in response as if this is old news to them.

_Uh, how do they know about that? _I'm starting to regret not listening to everyone else's interview. A subtle glance to the other tributes, who told them about the alliance?

_Wait, why am I angry? There's not really a problem with them knowing… I guess…_

It must be the nerves, it's got to be the nerves. I've always gotten irritable when my plans change.

The audience stops cheering, I should answer James' question. _Wait, he didn't even ask a question. Ha! This is the fabulous James Catroll I've been waiting my whole life to meet?_

_Breathe_.

"James, do you remember Vatlian Moore from the first Hunger Games?" I ask him.

He scoffs towards the audience. "Of course I do, he almost won!"

"He could have won."

The audience goes completely silent. Someone coughs, a chair squeaks. James gives me a look asking where I'm going with this.

I continue. "The reason he didn't was because he took the wrong weapon when they split up."

"Go on."

"He took the bow and arrows, leaving his ally with the sword."

"Yes," James leans in, intrigued. "But his ally was fantastic with the bow and arrows; surely if he had given it to him he would have shot him instantly."

The audience murmurs at this, taking in James' ideas.

"But James," I say, pausing before I continue. "What's a bow and arrow against a sword?"

He ponders for a minute before gasping in realization. The audience follows his lead, cheering and clapping once they make sense of my reasoning.

It's brief and very hard to catch, but I can just make it out as James winks at me. This finally makes sense; someone who knows the Games as well as James surely would have figured this out too. This is the James Catroll I have admired, acting dumb to play up my strategy.

We go on back and forth for the rest of the time pointing out the downfalls of some of the most famous players. Lydia should have killed her ally, Matron stopped running too early, if Salem had climbed a tree instead of fighting back, he would have both lived and spotted where the final opponent was.

The audience is quiet through most of this, hopefully with awe. When there's five seconds left, James thanks me for my insight and I go to sit down. My pulse has slowed down significantly, but it's still only when the audience has stopped cheering that I realize they were cheering at all.

Now I can relax. My interview is over and there's nothing more I can do until the Games themselves. I learned my lesson from before; not listening to the other interviews was just plain stupid. I need to know if anyone says anything that regards me. Way to go, Dredd.

However, it seems that the rest of the interviews are pretty lackluster. Three different girls vow to be the first girl to win the Games, but Marie Lynn is the only one who can make it seem somewhat believable. She acts very mysterious throughout her whole interview and is it ever believable. She jokes around that she has more than just one trick up her sleeve. When James asks her how many she counts on her fingers, eventually coming up with a total of seven.

"And how many of those are weapons?" James asks, amazed.

She smiles slyly. "More than you'd expect."

There is no measure to the amount that I hope that I still hold one of those coveted places up that sleeve of hers. I pray that my mediocre score wasn't low enough for her to abandon our alliance. My strategy for the interview wasn't just to impress the Capitol, I wanted to patch up any holes I'd made with her as well.

The tributes sitting around me look nervous. I already knew Marie Lynn was good with weapons, but the Capitol didn't. Actually, if it wasn't for her training score, she'd just be another obvious casualty. She could probably gut all of us with a sword, spear, bow, axe, knife, or just plain take us down fighting one-on-one. Well, all of us except maybe Trawl. All together that makes six of her secret tricks, seven if you include me.

The rest of the tributes pretty much just talk about training and their home lives. I get bored after listening to them, so I can only imagine what the rest of Panem is thinking.

When the broadcast concludes, we're sent back up in the elevators to our floors. The first thing I see is a little disheartening; Dredd's waiting for me on the couch.

"Everett, come over here and talk to me," he waves me over.

"Why would I want to talk to you?"

His eyebrows mesh together in confusion. "Because I'm your mentor?"

I let out a sigh of anger. "You told me not to listen to the other interviews and because of that I had no idea James knew about my alliance. It made me look like an idiot. Plus, I don't even have any idea who told him!"

"You can't be serious," he groans, honestly looking confused at me. "Everett, no one told him about your interview, the Capitol already knows. I told you not to listen to the interviews to calm you down. It worked; your interview went fine, really well actually."

I only really catch the first part of what he says. "Wait, how did the Capitol already know?"

"Are you kidding? I do talk to the other mentors you know, I've been working with them since we got here and you started your alliance. I've been promoting you guys all week to the press."

I'm shocked. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

He scoffs again. "Why didn't _I _tell _you? _Everett, you're the one who shoots me down every time I want to talk, you're the one who locks yourself in your room all day. I can only help you if you want me to."

"You only ever help Kristen!"

"Did you just miss everything I just said? I can only help someone who wants to try to work with me. I've been trying to do the best I can without any assistance at all from you, but you know what, that's really freaking hard, Everett!"

"Oh so I guess you're just going to help Kristen now!"

His head drops into his hands. "Are you actually this dense? It's my _job_ to help you. I _want_ to help you. Do you think I want to see either of you die? I don't have to be here, I signed up to do this and last time I checked so did you. So the least you could do is act like it!"

I turn around, furious. He shouldn't be yelling at me, he's the one that made it seem like he didn't want to help me at all.

"Are you going to say _anything_?" He asks.

I stay exactly where I am, too angry to move at all or answer his question.

He grunts. "Fine, just go to bed then, try to sleep if you can. Kristen, I'll talk to you now."

As I'm stomping away I can hear him apologizing to Kristen for our fight. I'm still so riled up that I don't even know what I think about it. If there's one thing Dredd got right it's that sleeping was going to be hard. Before I even know what's happened, its morning and I've barely slept at all.

**Alright, that's the last one before the Games!**

**Many thanks, watch for the eagle!**


	8. Eight

**By nature, this chapter contains violence, it's nothing I would call excessive, the T rating still holds true. If you could read the original Hunger Games, you'll be fine :)**

I know I should be excited, since I volunteered to do this, but in actuality I'm very, very afraid. It's my fear, not my fight with Dredd that keeps me in my room for the morning. It's only when my stylist knocks on my door that I finally leave.

"Dredd asked me to take you to the hovercrafts, he took Kristen this morning. He said that you'd probably expect him to do that and just wanted to say that he's rooting for you," he says, melancholically.

Even if I did feel like answering, I'm not sure if I'd be able to. I'm in such a daze that I can't even recall enough of the past few days to be sure this is the same stylist I had before.

I ride in the same hovercraft as Jason, Trawl, and Preston; thankfully none of them seem to feel like talking. Marie Lynn is on this flight too, but refuses to make eye contact or give any recognition of me. Out of all of us, she seems the most calm, picking at her hair, staring across the room, and admiring her fingernails for the duration of the ride.

As for the other kids, a few of them cry quietly, but most have slipped into the same undead stupor of the ultimate suspense.

Another hallway, another Capitol person waiting for me, a couple more minutes, and what I thought was torture elevates itself to a whole new level of agony; it's time for us to step into the launch tubes. There comes a pause before the platform rises, just long enough to give me the hope that it won't rise at all.

Alas, the Capitol was never known for playing towards hope. As I rise, I have to remind myself that I chose this, I've prepared for this, and I am ready. Eight of the tributes out there have sworn their allegiance to me, I'm in one of the best situations out of any tribute to have ever stepped foot in the Games.

I had expected it to be bright when I emerged, but instead I rise up into a ring of shade.

_This is wrong; this is not what the Arena's supposed to look like_.

Instead of the open field that normally hosts the start of the Games, I find myself surrounded by thick, dense forest. Small plants and young trees combine into undergrowth thick enough that I can't see two meters in front of me, let alone to the Cornucopia. For all I know, I could even be facing away from the promised bounty. There's no way of knowing where the supplies or any other tributes are.

I start to panic. I know I can't leave before the first minute is up and I can hear James Catroll counting down a lot faster than I'd like. I can't prepare for when he gets to the end, because I have no idea what way I should go to get towards the Cornucopia and my allies. They probably don't know where to go either, the viewers must be buzzing.

This is not an Arena suited to my conditions, this is an Arena that's suited towards those tributes who just want to get away from everyone else as quick as they can. We're all separated; after you've left your platform, if you see a person you don't want anything to do with, it's easy enough to just turn around and disappear into the foliage. Unfortunately for me, I'm not in the business of disappearing; I've got a place that I need to be.

_Could sound carry through this forest?_ I suspect not. There's no way I could yell to get someone's attention.

Thirty seconds left, the only way I'm going to get anywhere is just by picking a direction and walking straight until I either find the Cornucopia, or don't. I know how far the tributes usually are from the supplies, so if I don't see any positive signs after a little while, I can turn around and try the other direction.

Just as the number seventeen slips from James' mouth, a vibration rocks the forest floor and nearly knocks me off my platform. The sound comes immediately after, topping my shock with a high-pitched ring in my ears.

One of the tributes, not immediately, but somewhere on my left, jumped off their platform.

Five seconds left.

In a forest of no directions, this sound beacon is the only thing that can tell me anything about where the other tributes are. Regrettably it doesn't do too much for me because it only identifies that there are in fact tributes on my left, which I had already reasoned was likely. It was too close to have been from someone completely on the other side of the circle, but if it had been from across the ring, it would tell me exactly where the Cornucopia is. Not even now can I catch a break.

"Two," The grand voice booms from above.

_Two already?!_

"One. Let the eighth annual Hunger Games begin!"

_Uhh… okay, pick a direction and go._

I leap off the platform and land unsteadily in the mess of plants. So much for the years when everyone's running towards the Cornucopia.

I make my way slowly, weaving through the small trees and listening for the sounds of other kids. The breeze rustling the brush camouflages the sounds of any footsteps, but other than that, the arena is in complete silence. Someone could be five feet on either side of me and I would have no idea.

Eventually, the wildflowers growing around my feet start to thin, and before I know it I can jog between the trees. The continuous tinning of the bush seems to be a good sign, so I keep true to my direction.

Eventually I can see gaps between trees and in a few seconds, the corner of my eye catches the glint of my saving grace, the Cornucopia. It turns out that my direction was almost right. I was at an angle from the clearing, I could see it through the trees, but tunnel vision would prove disastrous.

It's a full sprint from here, thirty yards to salvation. I can make out the crates of food rations and water bottles surrounding the more precious items found directly inside the massive golden horn. I recognise Jason's blonde hair next to Ayler, picking through the things deep inside.

It's then that I remember I'm not alone in this forest. I turn my head to see who's around me. Thankfully, the only person other than my two allies is Dai Lao, who's just finding his way out of the trees.

Relaxed, I jog up to Jason. "Hey-"

He holds a finger up to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet. He points towards the weapons and I pick up a sword that I'm comfortable with. He holds a sword as well, while Ayler fawns over some knives and spears. Eventually he picks up one of each.

Dai Lao has made it to us now. "Yeaaaaah brothers!"

We all glare at him, then repeat the silent routine. Once he's taken a weapon, I motion to the ring of trees and everyone nods in unison. We make our way out of the Cornucopia and split up to jog towards the bush.

On the TV it looks so easily. During the bloodbath it seems so obvious where everyone should go that often it brings me to the point of yelling in frustration at the tributes. Now however, when I'm a part of this careful dance, I see that it's a lot more complicated than it seems. I don't know where anyone is and therefore I have no idea which way would be best. My mind's racing too fast to make any rational decisions and the energy my electric blood is pumping through my veins makes it nearly impossible to stop running. I feel like a train with stalled breaks, only a matter of time until I plow into a mountain.

I don't really understand the expression 'out of the corner of my eye' but for the second time today, I'm glad that my eyes have corners, because I just make out a flash of what can only be blonde hair to my right. Jason, who I know is behind the Cornucopia, is one of the pair of the only blonde tributes. It means I must be seeing Marie Lynn, she's certainly keeping a distance from the Cornucopia. Honouring what I promised her, I simply pretend I didn't see her and keep running. It's only a few more steps into the forest before more movement catches my eye.

I raise my sword and hold my ground. Whoever it is is running really quickly and it will only be a second before they're right on top of me. They won't have a weapon, this is my shot to prove what I've learned.

A skinny male runs ungracefully through the trees. I start to bring my sword down when they stop suddenly, startled.

"Everett!" The boy jumps back.

I lower my sword. "Trawl?"

"Is this the right way?" He asks frantically, checking over his shoulder.

"Uh, um- yeah."

"Okay thanks," he runs past me towards the Cornucopia, tapping my shoulder as he goes.

I don't have time to react to the surprise of seeing Trawl - and almost killing him accidentally – before the bushes are rumbling again. A second figure crashes through, bigger than the last. I quickly make it out as Jarratt, Marie Lynn's District partner, and raise my weapon assuredly.

I only get a change to knick him in the forearm before his momentum crashes into me, his reflexes a lot slower than Trawl's. I sprawl into the bushes, picking myself up as quickly as possible and holding on to my sword with extreme worry that he'll try to take it from me.

By the time I get myself standing, I'm alone again. I check behind me for reassurance, but sure enough, Jarratt is sprinting away towards the Cornucopia. Trawl is already there, picking through the weapons hurriedly. Jarratt is massive, based only by the fact that he bowled me over completely accidentally; Trawl is probably the only one who could take him.

I wish my ally luck before turning back to the forest for the third time. It feels wrong to wade into the weave of plants and trees, but I push forward anyways, letting the screams behind me fade.

It takes about thirty seconds before I come across him. Facing away from me, struggling intensely, buried to his shoulders in weeds, is a scrawny boy with a large twelve embroidered on his back. He turns his head and opens his mouth in a silent scream. I instantly recognise him as one of Tsoma's partners. I see now why he was struggling, the patch of plants he was caught in has thorns on it, long enough to snag his clothing and rip into his skin.

With the sight of me of course, his struggling increases until his thorn wounds start dripping blood. For a moment I can't even move, I just stand there watching him, until I realize that all of his self-mutilation is getting him somewhere, he's almost free. In the blink of an eye he's stumbling away, tearing away from me.

There's a second of reclusiveness on my part. With all he's done, this small boy deserves to get away from me. I could trip; make it look like I fell so that I don't scare away sponsors.

ButI forgot my own plan. Kills at the Cornucopia count towards points to determine who in our group gets to pick weapons first when we split up. I can't afford to lose what might be by only Cornucopia kill.

I leap towards the thorns, ignoring how they rip at my clothes. The boy has stumbled a lot, he's not that far away from me. I extend my arm so that the sword pierces his lower back.

The only sensation I can relate stabbing to is forcing a stake into the ground, except this time, the ground is screaming. He falls forward on his face, tripping me too. My weight collides into the smaller boy, pushing the blade of my sword further into his back and the hilt into my gut. It knocks the wind out of me and I catch the side of my thumb on the blade.

The short spike of pain is enough to bring me to my senses and get me on my feet. The boy has stopped struggling and is now motionless. I hold still for a second check for movement in his chest. Sure enough, he's still breathing, but the fact that he's not crying is enough to confirm that he must have been knocked out from the pain.

I'm no doctor, but I know this wound has to be fatal. The sword leans lazily from his back; it's buried fairly well in, but not all the way through. In his unconscious state, he'll bleed to death eventually if I leave him here.

I could keep going, though. I could use my sword and make some more cuts in terminal places, end it faster.

_No, this is respectful_. He's not in pain; I've simply done what I need to do. Anything more would be sadistic and I'd lose more sponsors for that than I'd gain.

I still need my sword, just in case I come across anyone else. Looking away from the gore, I grab hold of the sword and lift it out an away, just like a garden comes out easily.

With the added weight in my hand, my muscles flex again and alert me to the dampness of my shirt. It feels like water, but I know enough that it's not. I don't look down and head back towards the Cornucopia.

Most of the boys in my alliance are here now and huddled by the mouth of the giant gold horn. From my position at the edge of the forest I can see Jason and Ayler talking and a crouching William addressing something just around the edge of what I can see. I start walking quickly to Jason and Ayler, but am interrupted by screaming from the other edge of the clearing.

I girl runs through the trees, limping heavily due to a knife sticking out of her thigh. I stop immediately when, to my horror, she trips over a body. From behind her rips Preston, enraged like an animal. He too has blood covering him.

The girl tires to scamper away on hands and knees, but Preston's on top of her, stabbing her repeatedly. Her screams echo through the air making my hair stand on end. Eventually it's over, she's stopped screaming and I can finally breathe again.

Ayler and Jason start moving towards the crouched over boy that is Preston, so I do as well. I don't look at the face of the girl, but I can see on her back that she's from District Two. That's Ayler's District partner, I can't help but wonder what he thinks of all of this.

"Hey man, didn't know you had it in you!" Ayler yells, arms raised as he walks towards Preston.

Preston turns his head up and smiles, hands still on his knees and hunched over. His face is pale and his chest is rising and falling quickly. Ayler's walking towards him, smiling, when all of a sudden Preston's smile vanishes and he lurches forward to vomit.

Ayler jumps out of the way just in time to miss the mess. "Woah, didn't know you had _that_ in you either, but then again I didn't really want to, eh?"

I have to turn around to prevent myself from gagging too. I find Jason standing patiently on the other side of me.

He gestures to the wetness on my clothes. "You get someone?"

"The boy from Twelve," I nod. "I didn't finish him off, but he's knocked out and he'll bleed to death soon."

"I believe you," he scoffs. "You look like you went swimming in a pool of it."

Stupidly, I look down. Very quickly I realize that the 'it' he's talking about is blood. From elbow to knee, I'm drenched in a sticky, quickly cooling mess. Preston's finished gagging now, but I almost take the baton from him at the sight of myself.

Jason puts his hand on my shoulder. "I already found a spare set of clothes in the supplies."

"Did you get anybody?" I ask him.

"The boy from Eleven and Tsoma."

"Tsoma? Really? Wow, that's great," I had completely forgotten about her. "I got the boy from Twelve, I think he was with her. Did you get anyone, Ayler?"

"Girl from Eleven."

Preston, still gasping, laughs. "Wow, you actually killed a _girl? _Didn't try to flirt with her first?"

"Where did your sense of humor come from, Prince Puke?" Ayler teases.

"Adrenaline works wonders."

From far away a voice calls. "Guys, you should come over here. Now," I recognise it as William.

I look at the boys around me. Preston seems just as confused as I am, but Ayler and Jason both pale severely.

Jason breaks the silence. "Come on, we should go."


	9. Nine

"_Hurry up!"_ He calls again. The voice is William, who has only moved to turn and urge us forward.

By now we're all running over. I've done a lot more running today than I have in a long time, but for some reason I don't feel it in my legs at all. I don't feel worried either. Jason looks worried, William definitely looks worried, but I can't seem to catch into the trend.

The worry starts flowing when I see the slice through Trawl's stomach. A flashback to before, Trawl desperately running through the forest and Jarratt crashing behind him.

_Oh no._

It's not worry, but guilt that gets me this time. I didn't stop Jarratt, I didn't hurt Jarratt. Sure, Trawl didn't ask me to, but I should have just done it.

_You were too jealous to save his life. _The monster in my head nags. There never used to be a monster in my head, at least not until I killed someone.

It might not have even been Jarratt, I affirm.

"Who was it?" Preston asks the fading Trawl.

"Jarratt."

It _was_ Jarratt.

For a moment, I think I should apologize, but Trawl won't look at me and the thought evaporates. I watch as William, the out of place farm boy, tries to comfort what's left of the slain sword master.

Trawl tires to speak again, but it's too late. "I'm sorry I'm… gonna miss thi… -this… I- was looking forwuh-"

The sword master is gone, so the farm boy stands, his face looks scorn.

I watch while Preston takes the sword from the sword master's hand. He died by the sword, but he would not die with it, this quiet one affirms.

It still feels like my fault. But it wasn't even Marie Lynn; I didn't know, I couldn't know.

As I glance around the boys, everyone suddenly seems so unique, so vibrant. They're all so different and I laugh at how strange it was that we all came together. I retract my smile as soon as it rips open my face; now is not the time to smile. Jason still looks handsome, but sad, Preston is quiet, but sad. Even Ayler, who always seemed so confident manages a downward twitch of the lips.

Maybe I'm not sad because I never even wanted him here, or maybe it's because I'm angry. Even though he wasn't originally in my plan, the fact that someone killed one of my allies can still make me angry, can't it?

Everything's happening too quickly to sort my emotions out. Is this why there are so many betrayals in the Games? I didn't plan to have to work on my emotions before I came here, they don't train you in that at the Capitol.

For now, I can pretend that my anger is sadness. Yes, that works.

_Wow, I'm a monster._

The circle of boys closes, with everyone wanting something different. The handsome one wants to leave, and the quiet one wants to cry, the confident one is scared, the farm boy prays.

No one notices the sixth until he joins the group. Another smile threatens my cheeks, no one notices Dai Lao a lot of the time. He becomes the final petal on the sword master's flower.

The sixth wants to say something, but a part of him says he shouldn't. This part doesn't speak often, it throws him off guard. It's something that he's never learned to control.

"Who would have thought that he would be the one to go?"

The words ripple around the circle like the shock of a bomb. The handsome one fumes, the quiet one closes his eyes, the confident one looks at his feet, the farm boy says amen, and the sword master drifts away from the world. I still don't know how I feel.

* * *

**Krikanalo, thank you so much for sticking with me ^_^ I forgot to answer your question regarding Dredd last chapter, but no, I didn't model him after anyone. That's an interesting coincidence though!**

**Watch for the eagle!**


	10. Ten

Jason is the first one to turn around, Preston follows next. Everyone spins on their heels until only William and I are still facing the dead boy on the ground. William gestures to where the other boys are standing, we need to regroup.

"First thing's first," he says when we join the crowd. "Is anyone hurt other than Everett?"

That startles me, until I remember that I cut my thumb on my sword. Jason's got a cut on his arm, but everyone else has just got scratches. It doesn't take long to find a crate of mostly untouched first aid supplies.

"Did anyone see someone get into the supplies?" I ask, observing that some of the crates have been opened.

Ayler nods. "Yeah, Tsoma's partner from Five was picking through things. I was gonna get him but I was busy."

Dai Lao perks up. "Oh! Did anyone get Tsoma?"

Jason raises his hand.

"Nice," William says. "I got the boy from Seven in the bush."

"I got the girl from Eleven," Ayler says. "And my pal Presty here got my District partner."

Preston blushes.

I clear my throat. "I got the boy from Twelve. He should have died by now."

"He's not dead yet?" William asks.

"There's no way he's surviving what I did to him."

Dai Lao goes next. "I got the boy from Eleven," he points across the field to the body that caused Preston's kill to trip.

Jason's face scrunches up. "No you didn't"

"Yeah, I got him with a knife."

"You're an idiot," Jason fumes. "You little liar!"

Dai Lao takes a step back.

"I killed him, not you! You never say anything at the right time and now you try to take my kill? You're a coward! You weren't kidding when you asked who would have thought Trawl would be the one to die, I can guarantee that everyone here thought it was going to be you!"

Jason picks up the pocket knife from the medical kit and turns towards Dai Lao. Dai Lao backs up, fists clenched and getting ready to run.

"You don't even have any blood on you, idiot! How could you even think you could pull of taking my kill when you look like you just stepped out of the Capitol!"

"Stop," William reaches out to Jason.

"You're a coward!" He screams.

Preston puts his hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. It's you're kill, we know it is."

Dai Lao, still backing up, trips over a crate. William helps him up.

Jason tries to shake Preston off, William stands between him and Dai Lao. "Stop! Stop, stop. We're all on edge, stop."

"We can't fight," I say before I realise that I'm talking. Everyone looks at me. "Groups who fight always die."

Dai Lao nods desperately, Jason rolls his eyes and returns to bandaging his arm. "I got Tsoma _and _the boy from Eleven."

"Okay," William agrees. "You've got two and we've all got one, except Dai Lao."

Jason nods and mumbles something.

"We have to go around and make sure there's no one still in the area. There are always some tributes that wait around the Cornucopia until the big guys leave," I announce.

Ayler looks confused. "If we got anyone now, would that count towards the bloodbath deaths for points?"

"No, the bloodbath's done. We decide who gets what supplies at the end based on sponsor gifts now."

Jason smiles at this, it scares me a little. He finishes wrapping his arm and picks his sword back up. "I don't think anyone would stick around after hearing Preston's kill scream."

"That's the thing that's bugging me," I continue. "They start firing the first cannons when everyone's out of the area and there's not a very good chance than anyone's going to die soon. They haven't started the cannons yet."

Everyone takes this in.

"So someone's still here," Ayler concludes.

"Yeah."

Without a word, everyone picks up their equipment and starts walking away.

"Wait," I stop them. "Go in pairs," I look at Trawl's body. "Just in case."

Everyone pairs up with who they're standing closest to. For me this means I'm with Jason. Preston's with Dai Lao, and William's with Ayler.

Jason and I turn to go behind the Cornucopia. I close my eyes as we pass Trawl's body and am glad to be travelling in a direction away from my earlier kill. Both of Jason's hands are still clenched and he stares emptily towards the forest.

There's a body laying the middle of the field; I shudder at the thought of having to walk past another one. Hopefully someone will find the person nearby soon so that we can leave and the Capitol can clean them up.

The sounds of the forest have finally started to return to the air by the time we're a good distance from the Cornucopia. White noise fills my ears as we approach the body. It's a girl, I realize. I can see the number one on her back, half of the number Eleven; this must have been Ayler's kill.

Ayler was covered in blood when he was with us before. There's no blood on the body.

"Wait," I hold out my hand to stop Jason.

We hold her stance and stare at the body for a second.

Her eyes fly open. She gets up and runs. She's not District Eleven, she's District One.

"Hey!" I shout and all of the boys turn.

Now it's six against one, a sprint to the forest.

Ayler's the closest, he throws his spear, but it shoots between her outstretched legs. She can't stop her momentum and keeps running, wedging the staff of the spear between her thighs. It sends her flying onto her face and the nearby Ayler tripping over her back.

It's all happened in a matter of seconds and they're both back on their feet and running. Both of them are fast, faster than the rest of us. Jason and William have stopped running, realizing that they won't catch up. I stop too.

Without the wind whipping past my ears I can hear exactly what's going on. The girl's crying, screaming out to Preston, her District partner. She's wearing a red backpack that she must have taken from the Cornucopia when were in the forest, but we returned before she could get away. Pretending to be dead was a smart idea, if she had only kept her cool, she might have made it.

She drops her backpack trying to improve her speed and it effectively trips Ayler for a second time. I would never have imagined the bloodbath to include so much tripping.

Out of nowhere, something barrels into the side of her. My eyes adjust to see Dai Lao struggling with her on the ground. He's taunting her, only making her wailing worse. Without warning she heaves her fist back and smashes it against his nose, knocking him away from her.

Jason laughs under his breath.

She stands up again and stumbles into the forest. Ayler is a good ways behind her, but follows her none the less. He comes out of the forest seconds later, shaking his head. We walk towards him, William stopping to help Dai Lao up.

"Good try," I say. "She was fast."

Ayler's panting. "No kidding. Sorry Preston, she was you're District partner, right?"

Preston nods, then mumbles something inaudible.

"What?" Jason asks.

"I got yours, you got mine."

Ayler scratches the back of his head. "Heh, right," It didn't sound like his normal laugh.

A few seconds later, the first cannon from the bloodbath goes off. It's louder than it seems on TV, and it actually shakes the ground a little. William jumps and Dai Lao's eye's open wide. He's got a river of red running down from his nose.

In total there's nine cannons.

William talks first. "We killed six, then there's Trawl… that leaves two we don't know about."

"One," Jason corrects. "Somebody blew themselves up, remember."

"Right."

"There's a lot of us left," I say. "Normally there's more gone during the bloodbath."

William changes the subject. "I guess we should see the rest of the arena."

Each of us has two large hiking backpacks when we're ready to leave. We all carry supplies in our arms too, except for Dai Lao, who's still nursing his nosebleed. It's decided that he'll lead the way, since he's the only one with free hands.

"We should go this way," Jason points. "My platform's over there, there's less trees. That's why I was able to get here so quickly."

It doesn't seem fair that he was in such a clear area of forest, but it makes sense. The Gamemakers always give little advantages to the that players they think will be the most interesting.

"Could you see anyone from your platform?" I ask.

He stops. "Uh, that blonde girl."

Marie Lynn, that's who I was expecting. She's probably far away from here now, setting up her camp. I'm sure she's got plans to follow me where I go, though.

The forest is a lot thinner, hopefully it's a sign that the entire arena isn't this bushy. It's too easy for someone to hide in that undergrowth.

Dai Lao wisely stays silent for the trip, only speaking to warn us if there's a pot hole or branch.

We're all weighed down fairly similarly, each with one bag of food and water and another of supplies. I've got two tents, each built for four people. Anything excess that we didn't want to bring we made into a huge bonfire so that no one else could get it. That was my idea too. All of the food that was present is with us, unless it was something that spoils really quickly. The last thing we did before we left was change into new clothes. Anything bloody was left to burn.

On the way we come across a creek. Even though there were water bottles with the supplies, we still brought all of the empty canteens with us in Preston's bag. We stop to fill them all, uncertain of where we're going and if we'll find water again. Once they're all full and back in Preston's bag, he crouches to sling it over his shoulders and lifts with his legs. As soon as he stands back up, the weight buckles his knees and sends him down onto his back.

We burst out laughing, and then help him to his feet. Jason tests the weight of the bag and says he's amazed that Preston could stand up in the first place. As usual, Preston blushes.

Dai Lao's nosebleed has stopped, so he adds some of the canteens to his load. Preston's bag, now bearable, returns to its position of his back and we slug on.

After a few minutes, Alyer, who's second in line, stops.

"What is it?" William asks.

"I was thinking."

A pause. "About what?"

"How Dai Lao got punched by a girl."

Dai Lao grumbles and keeps walking.

Ayler laughs and runs after him. "It was a good effort, Captain Tackle Pounce!"

William and I exchange glances. It was pretty funny.

Up ahead, Dai Lao has stopped and when we reach him, we all stop too. The forest, which previously shifted from leafy trees to pines, now slopes away into a limitless desert. The sun is late-day orange, burning a hole into the horizon.

"That's unexpected," William whispers, taking in the view.

"I think you could have said that about a lot of things today," Pretson finishes.

"Touché."

Personally, I couldn't be happier. "This is perfect!"

"Everett's gone nuts, eh Willy boy?"

"No, really! No one's going to go into the desert, so it's the perfect spot for us to camp. No one can sneak up on us, and we're close enough to the forest to get to water quickly. I didn't think we could find something this perfect in the arena!"

I didn't mention that Marie Lynn could find us easily here.

Ayler steps out onto the sand and drops his bags. "Well, what the super fan says goes."

Everyone follows; relieved to drop the weight they were carrying.

Jason opens up his food bag and passes around some dried meat. "We hike like men, we eat like men."

I smile and finish his sentence. "We win like men."

* * *

Three of us to a tent, we finally got them pitched. In traditional Hunger Games fashion, they didn't come with instructions and Preston was the only one who had ever been camping before.

"I was responsible for starting the fire," he defended when the one he was working on collapsed.

Dai Lao emerges from one of the tents and sits down next to William. "They should have a tent pitching station in the training center."

"Who in their right mind would waste their time at a tent pitching station?" Jason rolls his eyes.

"It was just a joke."

"It wasn't funny."

Desperate for a change of subject, William speaks. "Jason, is that an earring?"

Jason paws at his right ear. "Oh, yeah."

"You haven't always had it."

"They gave it to me last night, said it was a style from before the Dark Days, apparently I'm 'vintage cute,'" he shrugs.

"Oh," I pipe up. "I forgot to tell you not to talk about that."

"His earring?"

"The Dark Days."

Jason looks at me. "Why not?"

"It's been a bad habit of Tributes in the past, the ones who don't make it to the end," I say, wanting to get off the topic.

William's eyes open with understanding. "Ohh, okay."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Dai Lao asks.

William whispers to him, to avoid the option of Jason using his own methods of explanation. "The Gamemakers, they don't like you bringing up the Rebe-"

On cue, the Capitol anthem bursts from the sky, a similar sensation to the cannon shots from before. William and I laugh, Ayler and Preston smile. The Gamemakers are really trying to shut us up.

After the anthem, the faces start to show, it's a new type of anxiety all together.

The girl from Two, Preston's kill.

Trawl.

The girl from Four. Jason looks indifferent. We don't know who killed her.

Kristen. My stomach drops, I had forgotten about her. We don't know who killed her either, but somehow I still feel responsible.

Tsoma, Jason's first kill.

Boy from Seven, William's.

The boy from Eleven, also courtesy of Jason.

The girl from Eleven, Ayler purses his lips.

Finally, the boy from Twelve. The responsibility falls to me.

A minute of silence passes, everyone absorbing the day's events. A few hours ago there were seven of us sitting happily in the Capitol, now there's just six on the seam of a forest.

"I want to sleep," Ayler breaks the silence. Preston nods.

"Someone has to stay awake," William says.

Marie Lynn said she'd come at night when everyone was asleep. I need to make sure she's still with me. "I can do it, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep anyways."

It's agreed upon and the supplies are moved into the tents.

William comes up to me. "I'll switch with you halfway through the night; just wait until the moon's halfway through the sky."

"Right."

Preston and Jason go in one tent, William, Dai Lao and Ayler in the other. I stay outside and face myself towards the forest, eyes peeled for my secret ally.

A few minutes after the rusting of the boys settling in the tents has stopped, Ayler talks through the tent. "Hey Everett?"

"Hey Ayler."

"When do they start selling sponsor gifts?"

"Tomorrow."

"Hmm. Okay."

William joins in too. "Go to sleep Ayler."

He sighs. "Fine, goodnight Preston, goodnight Jason, goodnight William, goodnight Everett."

A chorus of 'goodnights.'

Ayler lowers his voice to a mock-serious tone. "Goodnight Captain Tackle Pounce."

Dai Lao groans.

**It's been a rough day for Dai Lao**


	11. Eleven

She moves like a shadow and without a sound. It's not until she shifts out from behind the tree trunk that I even notice she's there.

An eagle stares me in the eye; I say it's a she because it's smaller than I expected one to be and I feel like that would be a female trait. In the third grade we each got a book with all of the native animals and the bald eagle was included. I remember the photo clearly, but I've never seen one in real life, most likely because I admittedly don't go outside that often. Why go outside when the Hunger Games are playing inside?

We stare at each other for a while, her having to turn her head sideways in order to look at me. Its more intimidating, I realise, when she looks at me straight on, but the problem is that she can't see me when she does that. It would probably make a nice metaphor about life, or love, or murder, but I'm too tired to think of anything right now.

There are no landmarks in the forest; there are no landmarks in the desert. The only thing that stands out is the moon and it's almost halfway through the sky by now. I think that if Marie Lynn was going to come, she'd be here by now. I'm upset that she's not here, but somewhat relieved, because if our talk went longer than halfway through the night, William might get suspicious when I don't wake him up.

My friend the eagle takes flight, the sound of her wings very similar to the swooping sound of an old-style train starting up. I watch her until I can't see her glowing head against the sky anymore.

What I imagine to be two hours later, I wake William up. It turns out that him, Dai Lao and Ayler weren't really sleeping anyways, but each thought that they were the only one who was awake.

Ayler decides to stay out with William, so I shuffle into the tent with Dai Lao. We didn't want to carry pillows with us, so the boys were using extra clothes to rest their heads on.

William's pillow pile is damp, I roll over to Ayler's and find that his is too.

* * *

After hiking all day, it wasn't hard to get to sleep. I wake up when Dai Lao steps on my hand in an attempt to step over me without waking me up. His hair is disheveled even more than usual and one of his eyebrows is disturbed so that it smudges up his forehead.

_Sorry _he mouths before exiting the tent. I've always been slow to wake up, so I toss around for a bit before I check to make sure my eyebrows are in better shape than his and join everyone outside.

William is the first to greet me. "Morning. Dai Lao said you actually slept?"

I look around, still hunched over from getting out of the tent. Everyone's awake, sitting in dug out holes in the sand. The shade from the treeline still weighs heavy over the campsite and the sky looks like it's been tweaked by a dimmer switch so that it's just a slight bit darker than its normal blue.

"Am I the only one who managed to fall alseep?"

"Nope, Jason did," William finishes. Jason, whose sipping water from a mug, opens his mouth in a sarcastic smile.

"No one went out looking for tributes while I was asleep?" I ask

Ayler looks at me funny. "No, we figured we would have gotten lost in that mess of a forest."

"Oh right," I blush and walk towards the group. "I'm a little loopy in the morning."

"I can tell."

The sand is damp and clumps onto my running shoes as I walk towards them. Preston hands me an apple.

"Thanks."

He nods back and resumes fiddling with his pant legs. We sit quietly for the next few minutes, taking in the air and spilling sand back and forth between our hands. I can't be sure as to what they're thinking about, but right now I'm feeling anxious. I know the games are going to get harder, but for now they're feeling surprisingly easy. No other tributes have it this easy right now, but instead of helping them, we have to kill them. It's certainly a new concept.

"So what's the plan?" William finally asks.

"We need to see more of the desert," Jason says.

I disagree. "People are disoriented the first morning. It's going to be easy to track them down."

Ayler has an opinion too. "Everett said that sponsor gifts come today. We should wait to see if we get any, so we'd be together when we get them and stuff."

William purses his lips. "Hmmm. I agree with all of them."

"Animals are really active in the morning, and desert animals are scary," Preston mumbles.

"Got an opinion, Dai Lao?" Jason asks. He makes it sound sincere, but I'm sure that it most certainly is not.

Dai Lao looks up, surprised. "Uh, no."

"I think we wait for sponsors," William affirms. With a quick quizzing of the group, it is decided that we will stay and wait.

As the sun moves across the sky, we shift positions many times. Preston retreats to the tents to try and sleep and eventually Jason removes his shirt, presumably to tan. The women of the Capitol will enjoy that. We seem to be all out of conversation, whether it is from lack of sleep or circumstance.

There are plenty of things for me to think about while we're waiting for what might not happen. I try not to think about the boy from Twelve, what I've seen of District Twelve and possibly having to meet his family. _Maybe he didn't have a family; _my mind wanders to think. _A lot of those kids are orphans_.

I cycle through thoughts Dredd, Marie Lynn, Trawl, Dai Lao and Jason, even as far back as the Dark Days.

That's right; a lot of these kids from the poorer Districts probably lost family members in the Rebellion. It's unfortunate that we can't talk about it. Maybe I'll ask at night when there are fewer viewers.

By the time the sun's directly on top of us, there's movement from above. What looks to be three parachutes drift down from the sky. It's only until they get a little bit closer that the heat mirage settles the image into two distinct shapes. They land on the ground just to the side of our tents and Ayler goes running to get them. One is the size of a shoe box and the other is about two and a half times as long. Both emanate high-pitched rings.

"How do we know who they belong to?" He asks, setting them down in the middle of our now-standing circle.

"Are they ringing at the same time?" Jason asks.

We all stand still and listen for a few seconds. It's hard to make out how much each is ringing, but it definitely isn't in the same tune.

"District number," Ayler's eyes open wide. "Ummmm, we have to make one quiet so we can hear the other."

Jason looks him in the eyes. "Someone lie down on top of one."

Preston moves to lie down on the bigger one but Jason stops him. "No, you're too skinny, Dai Lao, get on it."

Dai Lao's eyebrows rise up and he heaves up his pants before slowly laying himself out on top of the larger box.

"Everybody shush and hear how many times it rings," Jason holds up his hands.

One ring, followed by a pause. Very shortly afterwards it rings again, so District One is ruled out and Preston sighs.

Ring three makes Ayler moan.

Jason draws in his breath at the fourth ring, waiting to hear if it will stop. It takes three seconds before the pattern of ringing begins again, but by that time Jason is already unclasping the latches of the parachute.

What's inside is surprising, not the normal survival resources, but a book. He mulls it over I his hands and examines the inside cover.

"'Everything Not to Eat in the Woods,'" Ayler reads the title. "That's going to come in handy."

Jason nods.

"Can I get up now?" Dai Lao moans, his face inches away from the sand.

"Yes," I answer. He stands back up, heaving his pants again.

"Do you need a belt?" William asks. "We could get something from the forest."

"No, I'm fine," Dai Lao says.

The second parachute only rings twice, Ayler almost screams with joy. Inside is another unexpected gift, some sort of instrument.

Dai Lao speaks what's on my mind before I have a chance to. "What's that?"

Ayler's grin stretches his cheeks to the point they turn a bloodless white. "It's my ukulele. "

Before any of us can ask anymore, he starts strumming the strings with his thumb, perfectly turning the tune of the Capitol anthem into a comical, fast-paced melody.

"So that will be less handy," Jason muses.

Ayler sighs. "Man, you have no idea. It's handy if you know how to use it."

"You're not planning on beating anyone to death with it, are you?" Jason asks.

"Oh lord no!" Ayler scoffs, gripping it tighter. "Geoffrey is an instrument of _peace."_

William smiles. "Geoffrey?"

"A ukulele is nothing without a name."

"Okay, Mr. Harmony. When you're finished reuniting with Geoffrey, pick which spear you want, I wanna go hunting," Jason walks away, leaving the book in its case.

"At least I can say I got to bring a friend from home with me," Ayler jokes.

William starts cleaning up and I join in, an air of disappointment hanging over me from not receiving anything from my sponsors, assuming they're out there, that is.

* * *

I was going to stay back to watch our tents while we split up to search, but Jason insisted that him, Ayler, and I take the forest. I wasn't sure if that meant he thought of me as an asset or someone he wanted to keep an eye on.

_Oh damn! _Suddenly I understand. What he thinks of me doesn't matter; it's the fact that he's totally taken control of everything that I should be concerned about. Plus, now I'm not even with William, because he's with Dai Lao looking through the desert.

Why can't I keep a hold on anything? It was so easy to tell everyone what to do in the Captiol, it's just now that it's like the playing field is completely evened.

"Maybe if this stupid forest wasn't so thick we'd be able to find someone," Ayler moans.

"Maybe if this stupid forest wasn't so thick I'd be able to find my feet," I bounce back.

Jason, who's a few feet in front of us, shushes us. "I hear water."

"I think it's just the leaves," I say. "These trees sound like water when the wind blows."

"No, I hear water being _poured."_

At that we all stop and hold onto our weapons tighter. Sure enough, someone or something is splashing in the water nearby. Ayler points in front of him and we direct ourselves that way. After a short walk, we're facing a pond.

It's hard to see her at first, but there's a girl digging around in the mud by some tall water plants on the other side. The sound of her splashing must camouflage our entrance, so it's a miracle when she looks up to see us.

I recognize her face, but not enough to know her District. Her already wide eyes open even wider in fear and fixate on us. That's right, she's from Eight. That means she's Dai Lao's District partner.

Ayler immediately starts running around one side of the pond. In assurance that I won't run into him, I trace the other. Jason, who was originally in a stupor, takes the bull by its horns and dives right into the water. There's no surprise when he gets to her first.

In order to be able to swim to her before she got untangled from the weeds, he dropped his sword along the way. As soon as he's there, he's on top of her, with his hands around her neck. She's struggling, so he thrusts her under the water and a moment of peace passes while her screaming stops.

Ayler and I are there by now, but there's too much struggling to even begin to join into the fight. We pass glances at each other, Jason's a little scary when it comes to killing.

Out of nowhere, Jason falls backwards into the water. The girl emerges, dripping and horrified and turns to run out of the pond after catching her bearings. Jason fell over, but he never went down. In a flash he's back on top of her again and has her under the water. He turns frantically to Ayler and I and shakes his free hand around wildly. I hand him my sword. The water gets very, very red after that.

When the cannon fires, he lets go. I jump a little less this time, but the noise still rocks me. Jason sighs and dunks himself in the water to clean off. He pulls himself out of the pond much more easily than the girl did, I suppose it would have been a simple task for her too, had she not been cornered by the very three creatures of her nightmares.

The sun's nearly set, so it becomes hard to notice the tint of the water. William, Dai Lao, and Preston will have heard the cannon fire. I don't want to be the one to tell Dai Lao that we killed his District partner, but I assume that Jason would take on that task anyways. In fact, I'm almost certain of it, considering how he acted when Dai Lao tried to take his kill.

If I wouldn't want to tell my ally that we killed his District partner, would my ally want to tell me? Suddenly I'm suspicious of how Kristen died. You got points for kills at the bloodbath, but anyone could have pulled a Dai Lao and claimed that they killed one of the nameless corpses, rather than Kristen. I suppose now it doesn't matter, she had to go anyways, but still, there's no room in our alliance for a liar.

Haha, never mind. I've got Marie Lynn; if anyone's a liar, it's me.

"The sun was setting over the desert yesterday," Jason says, still breathing heavily. "If we get to the desert by following the sun, it will be easier to get to the tents from there."

* * *

**There's a poll on my profile asking for your top three favourite characters, just so you know ^_^**

**I made a big decision to submit some of these characters into SYOTs. To be honest, it felt like I was auctioning off my children, but to steal the words from my friend's mouth, I'm sure they're going to good homes. **

**Preston and Jason can be found here - s/9710448/1/174th-Hunger-Games-SYOT**

**As I'm posting this, that author's still looking for Tributes, so get on over there and see if your characters can take on Preston and Jason ;)**

**William is here- s/9674689/1/Cutthroat-The-Tale-of-the-Thirty-Third **

**ANNNNNNNND I've submitted Ayler somewhere too, but there's no word back on whether or not he's been accepted. **

**Even if you're reading this much after I've stopped updating, I still encourage you to go read those SYOTs, it will definitely be interesting to see how other authors will write about the boys**

**(and hopefully since there's four of them, one of them will win)**

**Watch for the eagle!**


	12. Twelve

I'm laughing as we're walking back, because I called Dredd 'sir' first time I met him. Gosh, I was such a try hard. No one notices my laughing; Jason's having another intense moment and Ayler seems lost in his own thoughts.

When I first met Ayler, I was really scared of him, now I'm scared of Jason and Ayler is one of my favourite people here. It feels like years since I left home and days since we started walking back. Time went so quickly at home because my day just consisted of getting up, going to school, and then being by myself at home. The lack of substance took hours off of my days and now all of those hours are coming back to haunt me. The longer I'm here, the higher the chances are of my death.

Death was never a possibility in District Six, now it seems like the only option.

Well, I _probably_ have Marie Lynn, at least that gives me an advantage.

We've passed through the leafy-tree part of the forest and now our steps are camouflaged by the thick layer pine needles on the ground. There's fewer shrubs here, so it's easier to walk without stumbling over roots and knotted branches.

Ayler yawns loudly beside me and it passes around our trio.

"I guess it's you and I tonight, Everett?" Jason asks.

It startles me. "What?"

"We're the ones keeping watch."

_Oh, right. _"Oh, right."

There's a lot of silence until we reach where we're going. The only conversing that goes on is Ayler muttering about how much he would love all different types of food. It turns out we were only a little bit off of our path into the woods and we can already see the tents as we break from the forest. All three boys are waiting for us, digging through bags. Hopefully they're getting out food, it's hard to do anything when you're this hungry.

"Glad to see you all made it back," William says. "What happened?"

I answer first. "We ran into-"

"I killed your District partner," Jason interrupts me.

It's not clear who he's directing that too, because he's looking off into the forest, so both Dai Lao and William look up in surprise.

"You got Eileen?" William asks. "Wow, I uh, thought she would have been around longer. I mean good job and everything, but wow."

Jason frowns. "No, not yours, Dai Lao's. Sorry, I thought everyone else's was gone."

Dai Lao, who wasn't looking up before, doesn't move at all.

His voice cracks when he finally speaks. "Of course you did."

He said it very quietly and I didn't think Jason heard it until I see him grin. There is no doubt in my mind that I definitely don't want to be on his bad side.

"Well nice job, Jason," William affirms. "We were going to start eating as soon as you guys got back."

Ayler's eyes open very, very wide and he sits down less than a foot away from William. "William, have I ever told you that I love you?"

"No, I must have missed it."

"Shame, because I don't think I've ever felt this way about anybody before."

We feast lavishly on peanuts and raisins. Even though it's a petty meal, I'm still happy to have something. Not very many tributes get to eat three times a day.

It's late when we're done eating. It was late when we started, but we took longer than one would expect after Ayler discovered that it feels like you're eating twice as much food if your take twice as small bites. I mastered the art of halving peanuts with my front teeth.

When the Capitol anthem comes on, we all turn to watch. It's only Dai Lao's District partner tonight. I realise that we have been responsible for all but three of the deaths so far, that is if everyone's telling the truth.

After the death toll, Ayler runs to get Geoffrey and plays for us for a little while. When he gets tired enough that his thumb starts slipping and the songs become incoherent, everyone decides to go to bed.

It's been a day of small thoughts and personal reflection. Even William, who seems to keep himself distant from what has happened, has had moments of eye-glazed introversion. For Preston, it's been even more so than usual and Dai Lao has kept his mouth shut almost all day.

"I'll stay up first," I decide. A few years ago I figured out that my lethargy during the day didn't depend as much on the time I went to sleep, but when I woke up. Falling asleep early and waking up early made me much more tired than a 1am-10am schedule.

Jason yawns his reply, it's incoherent, but I don't think I need to hear him to know what he was trying to say.

I'm alone with my thoughts again for a few minutes, so I start to think about what will happen if Marie Lynn comes. I don't have to think long, because before I've even considered how long to wait until I wake up Jason, she's in front of me.

It's unexpected and I'm in shock until she's about to start talking. As soon as she opens her mouth, I shoot up and hold out my hands. Her face scrunches up and she steps back.

I allow my voice to shake when I talk, even though I'm much more excited than scared. "Ayler, William… anybody… you're gonna want to come out here and see this."

Her face twists from confusion to anger. She steps back even further and assumes the same stance that Dai Lao did when Jason confronted him. It would be identical if it weren't for the knife she's pulling out of her back pocket. A few tense seconds pass where she's frozen between running and attacking.

When there's no noise from the tents, I smile. "Relax, you're fine."

The fury mixes with confusion again and I can't help but laugh.

"Gosh, I was just making sure they were asleep. I'm not turning on you or anything," I smile.

She thinks about this for a second, then wipes her face to neutral. "Oh, okay."

She sheaths her knife and sits down where she is, then proceeds to braid her hair. I'm a bit offended that she didn't compliment me on my little act, I would have thought she would have appreciated it. Nevertheless, I'm glad she came and go sit down with her.

"Did you get anyone in the bloodbath?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No. I told you that I needed your help so I could stay away from it."

"Right. Where'd you get that knife, then?"

I keep expecting her to smile in her usual way, but she never does. "Sponsors."

"Oh."

"You haven't got any gifts, have you then?"

"It's only day two," I mumble.

She looks at her wrist, which is donning a watch. "Actually, it's technically day three."

"It's past twelve?"

"It's almost two."

"Oh," I pause. "I have to wake Jason up soon."

"Why so disappointed?" She purses her lips together in a mock frown. "Gonna miss me?"

"No, I just thought I was only out here for a few minutes before you came."

She shrugs. "You probably dozed off."

It's killing me to not talk about Trawl. I feel guilty for going against her and need to say something.

"We should talk about the big thing between us," I say.

She looks up, confused.

I pause before I continue. "About Trawl, I know I said our group was final before the Games and I'm sorry that I let him in, everyone was against me and I didn't know what it would mean for us if I went against them."

There. Hopefully, she'll understand that I had our interests in mind. I haven't abandoned her and there aren't words to describe how glad I am that she hasn't abandoned me.

She smiles. "I don't care Everett. As long as you haven't told the others about me, I'm fine."

"Oh- wow, okay that's great," I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised that she's so relaxed about it all.

"Who's in the lead in your little contest thing?" She asks.

"Jason."

"Anybody bugging you? We can wake them up and get rid of them if you want, the best time would be now. Lead them into the forest and meet me there?" She asks. I have to do a double take to see if she's serious. It takes me off guard that our conversation turned so gruesome so quickly.

I'm about to turn her down, but then I think about Jason. He's scary, very scary. Also, he's way in the lead for our rankings. Getting rid of him certainly wouldn't be a bad idea and I have no doubt that Marie Lynn could take him down if we surprised him like she suggested.

Something scratches at the back of my mind, though. This always happens in the Games, an alliance doesn't get along and eventually they start turning on each other. In the past, only a few of the members have gotten out alive from an in-alliance fight and I don't know if I like my chances im a breakup against the guys I'm with.

I'll wait and see if he gets worse, then take her up on her offer.

"No," I decide. "It's going well so far."

She nods, then pauses before changing the subject again. "I'm cold."

"Yeah."

"Do you have a blanket?" She looks expectantly at me.

"No, we just brought sleeping bags."

She frowns and we're quiet for a long time. "I don't really have much more to talk about; I don't want your guys to wake up."

"Yeah," I'm talking even less than Preston does, but in my defense, Marie Lynn is hard to talk to. The way she moves and speaks makes me feel like she's genuinely being nice to me, but yet judging me at the same time. I'm uncomfortable, but still happy that she did come back.

Even if it was a day late.

"Marie Lynn?"

She doesn't look at me. "What?"

"Why didn't you come last night?" I ask

"No one sleeps the first night, you know that. People would have heard me."

She's right, I do know that and I shouldn't have worried knowing it.

She turns to me now. "Miss me that much, huh?"

I blush, glad that it's dark enough that she can't see it.

I'm fumbling over something to say, when the silence is broken by that glorious beeping noise we waited for so desperately this morning. Eclipsing the moon is another parachute, silver turned to black by the backlighting. I don't even have to listen to the number of rings before my gut tells be that it's mine.

"Congratulations, Everett," Marie Lynn smiles.

When it lands, I drag it over, debating with her whether or not to open it. When I tell her about how we opened the parachutes together this morning, she responds saying that no one would blame me for opening it now.

Inside the capsule is a whole chicken, cooked to perfection. "Well it's not really perfect timing, but this is huge!"

She giggles, I can imagine that she's comparing it to what she's received in her head.

I start digging a hole in the sand and explain myself as I go. "Since we're not eating it now, the sand will keep it cold."

"Ooh, smart," she coos.

"Thanks."

Marie Lynn turns to go. "Well, while you do that, I'm going to start heading back to my camp."

"Okay," I huff. "I won't be on watch tomorrow evening, so you don't have to bother coming here."

"Alright. If you're going out on patrols, try to stay away from this direction," She points to a section of the trees. "I'm staying there and I don't want you guys to happen upon me. If there are any tributes there, I'll get them."

I stand back up straight to wave goodbye. "Got it. See you in a few days and – uh – thanks, I guess."

She doesn't say goodbye as she melts into the dark forest. In a little while, I go to wake Jason up. I tell him about the sponsor gift and he nods tiredly. I expect to fall asleep slowly after the excitement with Marie Lynn, but the sand below me makes a fantastic cradle and I drift away quite quickly.

**I wanted to make a wordle (those clouds of words made from a section of text, with words used most being the biggest) of the fic but I don't have Java ;_;**

**How cute would that be, though**

**No doubt in my mind that Ayler would be the biggest word. No. Doubt.**


	13. Thirteen

"It's funny how unnatural this arena is," William says the next morning while I'm retrieving the chicken from it's pit.

Preston nods. "There are forests like that in One, Two, Three, Five... almost all the Districts, but the only deserts are near Nine, Ten, and on the outside of Eleven. It's weird that they're right next to each other."

"Maybe they're just trying to make everybody feel at home," I huff as I heave the chicken, which is still in its capsule, out of the hole.

"Right, so we feel at home while we're trying to kill each other," William jokes. "Didn't you say that was a chicken? Why is it so heavy?"

I shrug. "I don't know, it wasn't this heavy last night."

When I flip open the already ajar lid, I discover the source of the weight. A leather-looking coating of black beetles clicks collectively as they scurry off of the skin of the chicken and hide underneath it. Everywhere that the beetles were sitting has been chewed on, nearly to the bone. They probably laid eggs in it for all that I know. It takes a second to realise what I'm witnessing and I instantly stiffen up as soon as I do.

I drop the case and run to the other side of my hole. "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope-nope-nope."

A shiver runs across our whole group. Everyone reacts in their own way; Preston turning around, William stepping back, Jason jumping, Ayler groaning, and Dai Lao standing stock still.

"You have no idea how excited I was for that chicken, man," Ayler groans.

"I'm pretty sure I do," Jason comes back.

Dai Lao is still staring at the nearly-emaciated chicken. "I'm not eating that."

"No one is, we don't know what those beetles are," William adds.

Ayler moans again. "I want _real_ food though."

Dai Lao throws in another off-topic comment. "I hate bugs."

"We can always go hunting," I say. "We can get plants because we have Jason's book and all of us can use weapons."

There's a pause while a few of the boys step closer to examine the chicken. Preston takes a seat and Ayler sits down beside him. Jason looks up to the sky, then walks over to the supplies and changes his shirt.

"We have the bow and arrows in our tent," Preston says. "I'm not bad with them."

"Perfect," I say. "You can get animals easier when you're farther away."

"We should go to the pond where we got Dai Lao's partner," Jason explains. "Animals need water."

"Someone from yesterday's group will need to go in that group, because they'll know where it is," I say.

Jason shrugs. "I will because it was my idea."

I glance at William who's still staring at the chicken. "Alight, so you, Preston, and…"

"How about Dai Lao?" Ayler adds.

"Okay," Jason says, emotionless. I'm about to say something about this horrible pairing, but Preston and Jason are already up and getting their weapons. Dai Lao looks just as nervous as I do, but at least he's moving, unlike me.

William, still staring at the chicken, offers to stay back. Before I know it, Ayler's at my side with Jason's book and our weapons, then leading me into the forest.

As we're about to break the tree line, a cold feeling washes over me. "Wait, let's try over there."

We were about to walk in the exact direction Marie Lynn told me not to.

Ayler shrugs, "Okay."

It's another quiet walk in the forest, not wanting to scare any animals that might be around. Just because we're not specifically hunting them, doesn't mean that we won't come across any.

"You probably think I'm insane for suggesting that Dai Lao goes with Jason," Ayler murmurs.

I don't know what to say, because I do think that he's insane. The only reason that I didn't stop them was because Preston was with them and for some reason it feels like nothing violent and betrayal-like can happen if he's there.

Ayler laughs. "It's okay, I get it, but I didn't do it cause I wanted them to fight."

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Ayler's energy is too positive for him to ever _want_ someone to fight. In fact, even this serious start to our conversation seems out of character.

"Dai Lao's mad," he continues. "He said to me last night that he's tired of everyone treating him so badly."

This takes me off guard. Dai Lao's been so quiet that I had just assumed he was fine. Ayler stops, his face reading concern.

"I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but I'm just going to because I don't think you'll go all 'Jason' about it. So... he also said that he was tired of you thinking you knew everything," he finishes.

"What?" I say, not wanting an answer. It was a 'what' of shock, not a 'what-I-didn't-hear-that'. My whole leadership depends on the boys not thinking I'm too controlling and I don't think I've done anything to appear that way. It makes me mad, to be completely honest, for him to be thinking of me that way.

"Don't freak out about it or anything, it's not a big deal," Ayler says, seeing my distress.

It is a big deal though. My first sponsor gift gets ruined, one of my allies has serious arrogance problems, and another one hates my guts.

Ayler stops when we come to a plant with small fruit on it. "Do you think we can eat these?"

"I haven't been _that_ controlling," I mumble, ignoring what he's saying.

Ayler flips through the pages of the book. "Never mind, definitely not eating this one. Apparently they cause 'airway lesions'. Hmm."

"He's an idiot. He should have said it to my face. No wonder he's losing the stats."

Ayler laughs. "Did you know the author of this book is named Mathic Renanal? Heh, what a last name_._"

I stop. "Has anyone else said anything about me?"

"Not that I know of." Ayler squats to examine some berries. "I think we have a winner here, these aren't in the book at all."

"He's a coward."

"They taste pretty good too."

I sigh.

He stands back up to look at me. "Look, I don't want you to be mad at him. I said he should go so he'll feel like we want him here. He'll be happy now; I think he was just overreacting."

I want to ask how he can just tell me not to be mad, but none of this is his fault. "Can I try one of the berries?"

He laughs. "I lied. They taste awful, but you can try one if you want."

"Let's give them to Jason."

"Okay," he smiles.

* * *

When we regroup, the other boys try the berries and spit them all out instantly.

"Why the heck would you pick those?" Jason asks.

I shrug, trying not to laugh. "They were the only edible things we found."

"You can't call that edible," Dai Lao mutters. I watch him closely, he doesn't seem angry right now. Actually, his posture and facial features have turned much more positive. Maybe Ayler made a really good decision, giving him some time to shine. If Jason had have been cruel to him, I'm sure I would be able to tell and there's no sign of any mistreatment right now.

While we only found the berries, the other group of boys did much better. They brought back two squirrels and, to my horror, an eagle.

"Did you kill them in one shot?" William asks.

Dai Lao answers. "No, we just got them out of the trees, and then Preston ran up and got them."

Preston shrugs, and picks up one of the squirrels. He begins cleaning it without a word and actually doing quite an impeccable job. William repeats his process with the other. I can understand how William, from the livestock District, knows how to clean an animal, but I can hardly see the same out of someone who grew up surrounded by luxury.

"Preston, where did you-" I start.

He cuts me off. "They – uh- taught me how to do it at school."

"That's against the rules," Jason tenses, making Preston nervous.

"I didn't volunteer though," Preston stutters. "So it's not as if I've been training specifically to play in the Games, it was just precautions."

"How old are you?" Ayler asks.

Preston shrugs. "Seventeen."

"So you could have been waiting until next year to volunteer, then," Jason threatens.

I know we shouldn't be talking about this, but it's intriguing and I don't really want to stop. If Preston's been training for the Games, then it really is against the rules, even if it's something that they've just been teaching to everyone at school.

Preston's posture changes as he shifts to the defensive side. "William knows how to clean animals too, Trawl was better than any of us at fighting, how is this any different?"

"I think what we're trying to say is that your District is playing against the rules by teaching you things at school," William says.

"And therefore, he's playing against the rules," Jason adds, balling his hands into fists. "You're District makes weapons Ayler, do you guys learn how to use them at school?"

Ayler's eyes open wide. "I don't- uh- no, but I don't want to be a part of this."

Jason ignores everything but the answer. "Yeah, so District One is clearly cheating, since even the weapons District doesn't teach them how to fight."

"Maybe you're just threatened, Jason," Preston says very quietly. It takes a second for what he has said to sink in.

"What?" Jason asks, voice loud with anger. "You think I'm scared, _bean pole_? Your legs are the size of my arms!"

"Guys, stop," Dai Lao says. "Right now we're together and Preston caught all of those animals, so we should be happy about this."

Jason stares at Preston for a few seconds, still quite obviously furious. He doesn't even look at Dai Lao when he turns around and goes into his tent. It's certainly a shift of power.

There's a lot of things going through my mind, a few about Dai Lao and Jason and a lot about Preston.

Dai Lao going out hunting with them must have changed his outlook on everything a lot. If I can harness this personality, it will be nice to have him around. I'm not even worried about Jason in the short term, I know he has a temper and just has to sit through it. For the long term, however, I might need to talk to Marie Lynn.

Preston is really confusing me. First of all, he hasn't talked this much since I've met him and he's the first one of us to openly challenge Jason. Plus, he did it without flinching. If he's been training at school, then there's a lot of hidden talents he could have that we don't know. Underneath all of that is the haunting fact that he only got an eight in training. I don't know what he could be proving by holding back for a lower score, but it could be a good strategy. No one's ever tried it before, but the people love an underdog among the giants.


	14. Fourteen

It's nearly a week before anything exciting happens again. The rain started the night of Preston's confession and hardly let off for five whole days. We turned our tents so that the openings pressed each other, that way we would be able to hear if anything or anyone not in our group tried to get into one of them. It was too cold to have a watchperson out in the rain, so we decided that there should be at least one person awake in each tent at all times.

On a few of the nights, the rain was slowed enough to have someone sit outside under a tarp. I volunteered to take one of these shifts so that I could get caught up with Marie Lynn. When she came, she asked me the regular questions and I turned all of them down, admitting that not much had happened since the rain started. I told her about what Preston had told us about his schooling and she didn't have much to say about that.

When it came time for her to tell me what she had been doing, she pulled out a gorgeous jewelled sword. She laughed when she mentioned how her sponsor pool would probably be dried up after this gift, but was very glad to have it. She let me hold it for a few minutes and the quality was like nothing I had ever felt.

It was too rainy to go hunting. Preston and William tried one of the days, but they didn't last long before giving in to the cold. Preston explained that a lot of the animals were probably hiding anyways, so the outing would not likely be fruitful.

We ate what remained of the previous catch and dried food, before resorting to the bitter berries and even some of the untouched pieces of the beetle-chicken. Preston mainly stayed to the dried fruits, when asked why, he explain that he was a vegetarian. I couldn't really understand why he wouldn't put that behind him in this circumstance, but he seemed perfectly content with his raisins. The strangest part of it all was considering how he slaughtered the animals and killed Ayler's District partner without even batting an eye, when put in comparison to his eating habits.

William compiled a list of all of the surviving tributes while we were six of us were left, plus William's District partner, Marie Lynn and Jarratt, Preston's District partner who had so cleverly evaded us at the bloodbath, Tsoma's old ally from District Five, and the girls from Seven and Twelve.

As the days ticked on, you could feel the tension rising. The Gamemakers had never been shy about making something exciting happen during a dull period and, as the only major group left, we were a prime target for trickery.

The hammer drops on the morning when the rain stops. Ayler, who was staying guard for our tent, wakes Preston and I up in the morning as soon as the clouds quit.

"It's strange to be able to tell that it's actually morning," I mumble, observing the blue sky. "It was so dark all the time that you could hardly make out what time it was."

I _almost _mentioned my jealousy of Marie Lynn's watch, but I caught myself after remember that they don't know about her. There was so little talking over the past five days that I pretty much lost all social skills.

"It doesn't feel like morning," William says, yawning.

Jason zips up the tent he was sleeping in and throws a canister from one of the parachutes on the ground. "That's the last of the food that we have and it's non-perishable, so I'd like to keep it around for a while."

I didn't realise that our supplies were running so low. Food being a problem is a weird feeling and I don't like it in the slightest. The other tributes must be near starved at this point, people are going to stop dropping from hunger.

We're all very lethargic, so unfortunately, it's easy for anything to sneak up on us. As soon as the last syllable leaves Jason's mouth, a shape darts out from the forest. It glides over the canister, picking it up as it goes and soaring into the sky. Its white head twists to look down at us as it ascends so I can make out what it is, an eagle.

Preston fumbles wildly for his bow and arrows, but it's taking too long, so Ayler launches his spear at the thief. We're all watching the escaping eagle, so we don't notice the second one swoop up from behind us and catch the spear mid-flight.

Ayler swears under his breath and we turn back to the forest. Another eagle is flying straight towards the group. Preston smartly avoids shooting an arrow at it while the bird flies directly at Jason's head. The force of the not-petite invader knocks Jason over, giving the bird room to land on his chest. He tries furiously to push it off of him while we run at it with swords, but it takes off before we can get there, leaving Jason clutching at his ear and screaming.

As I get closer, I see what this one stole. The sly little burglar ripped out his earring.

I'm too focused on the gore to notice the last bird, until it's got my sword in its talons. As all four fly away, Preston aims at them, but the shock, morning weariness, and Jason's wailing keep him from hitting any of them.

When Jason's recovered enough to get up and find bandages, he lets out the longest string of cursing I've ever heard. Everyone's very, very quiet and goes about their business without discussion. William scoops away the bloody sand, Dai Lao adjusts the tents back to normal, Ayler organises what weapons are left, and Preston goes hunting for his lost arrows. I decide to help Ayler organize what's left. It must be half an hour before anyone talks again. This time, it's not even one of us.

"Good morning tributes, good morning," The voice of James Catroll echoes all around the Arena. Jason turns frantically, getting used to hearing through the massive wad of bandages on his ear. "We have to send out our most sincere apologies for the antics of the some of the local fowl this morning."

"Damn right you do," Jason mutters.

"We've decided that it's only fair to give you back your items as well as some gifts from the Capitol as a representation of our apologies."

I perk up hearing this. It would be nice to be able to get some food without having to hunt for it.

They're not done with they're announcement. "If you look to the sky, your gifts should be arriving just about now."

My frustration doesn't keep me from mouthing the infamous last sentence of his interruption. "Good luck tributes, and may the odds be _ever_ in your favour."

The odds are in our favour, but they certainly aren't very high. Nearly two dozen cherry red parachutes drift down from the sky. Although, instead of being in a central, convenient location, they're scattered as far as we can see across the sky. All of the parachutes look identical and there`s no sound of any of the usual ringing. There's no way of knowing which parachutes have our things in them, meaning that any tribute can find our weapons or our food.

As some of the parachutes descend into the forest and the others lose themselves in the horizon of the desert, it sinks in that we're going to have to go hunting for them.

It makes me angry, very angry. In the past, the Gamemakers have shuffled the pot with mutts, feasts, natural disasters, but never something like this. Not only are we going to have to split up to find our stuff, we don't have all of our weapons and could very likely come across another tribute that has found them. There was no way I could have planned for this.

William, thankfully, is on the ball. "Preston should go after the parachutes in the desert, because he's the best with the bow and arrows and they're no good in the forest. Everett and Jason should have the two swords, because they've been showing the greatest improvements with them. Ayler's fast, so he's not staying to watch… I guess that leaves you with a knife, Ay'… sorry. Someone needs to stay to watch, though, I suppose I _could _stay-"

"No, I'll stay," Dai Lao offers. "I haven't stayed watch before."

"Okay, so I'll go the opposite way from Preston in the desert," William finishes and gives me his sword.

Jason and Preston are already picking up to leave when I throw in a final remark. "Don't open anything until we're back here, unless you're attacked and desperately need a weapon. There might be dangerous things in the parachutes."

"Makes sense," William affirms. "Alright, so try to be back by night, don't stay out any later than that to try to find more parachutes. Everyone's going to be up and moving and it's going to be really testy out there."

My pulse is going at a mile a minute. Everyone, including Jarratt, is going to be looking for their stuff and no one is going to be happy about it. I'm glad to see that neither Ayler nor Jason is heading towards Marie Lynn's section of the forest, because I don't know how I'd get them to turn around. I stay away from that direction too; Marie Lynn's ought to be frustrated and jumpy, so I wouldn't want to surprise her.

The bush is still wet, enough so that even with my twisting and sliding to stay away from leaves, I'm still soaked and frozen after only a few minutes. It's weird being in the forest by myself, but I'm sure that this is how all of the other tributes feel and what some of my past favourites have experienced. I can't say I like it and it's making me anxious for when we have to split up. Maybe I'll go out hunting with Preston some time to learn some of his techniques, since I haven't been getting as many sponsors as I had imagined.

Even though I'm not moving very quickly, my heart rate is still very high. It brings me back to the bloodbath, where you had no idea where you were going or who you were going to run into.

As I walk, I scrape my sword against the trunks of trees and cut the heads off of flowers. I want to move quickly, but I also want to be able to get back to the tents. I know someone's going to die today, I can feel it. Hopefully it's not me and I won't be out late enough that my allies think it is.

I find myself concerned for some of my group members. Ayler's in the same situation as I am with only a knife. My time here would be much more miserable without him, even though I know he has to go at some point. He was quite the entertainer during the storm, if we were stuck like that again, I would hate being left without him. A chill runs down my spine at the thought that I might have to kill him.

"Attention, tributes, attention."

I stop as soon as I hear James' voice, reminded of all those times I stayed up late to watch his interviews on TV.

"We regret to apologise yet again for our poor hosting. We see that you are having some trouble finding your returned items. Hopefully this will help."

Here it comes. "Good luck tributes, and may the odds be _ever_ in your favour."

I must not be the only one coming up short. I stay where I am to wait for whatever they're mentioning, remembering the delay of the parachutes appearing in the sky from before. It must be two minutes and I still don't notice anything different in my surroundings. At that point, I decide to keep going.

I pass through the towering pine trees and into the leafy, thicker forest. It's harder to hear small noises when I'm in the thick of the bush, so I almost miss Marie Lynn hissing at me from somewhere in the weeds.

"Everett," she starts out quietly.

I stop. "Where are you?"

"Come over here," she whispers.

"Where is here?"

She calls from further in front of me this time. "Follow me."

She continues calling for me to follow her, increasing in speed so that eventually I have to run to keep up. Every time I ask her to slow down, stop, or come out of the bushes, she tells me to shush and keep going. It's not amazing that I haven't seen anything but the movement of trees from her, the forest is just _that_ thick.

"How can you move so quickly?" I finally ask after stumbling over a tree's root.

She just laughs.

She leads me through mud, shallow streams, and thorns, leaving me wet, messy, and scratched. Her little chase continues even when I've fallen and am begging her to slow down.

"I can't do this anymore," I'm panting. It's farther than I've run in a very, very long time. My entire body is screaming and I haven't heard so much as one thing to make me believe that this is for my benefit. "I'm turning around."

Meters above my head, she whispers her response. "Trust me."

The same two words echo in circles around me, moving from high in the trees above, to eye level. The sound bounces back and forth from far away to feet away and for a moment I think I've gone insane.

Then, one little 'trust me' comes from just a bit closer than the others. I turn instantly that way and barely catch the flutter of black wings through a gap in the leaves. I know those black wings, you can still find them in District Six. They're jabberjays.

"Run rabbit, run," they call from up ahead, still using Marie Lynn's voice. My curiosity is replenished; the Gamemakers are trying to lead me somewhere.

It's not far before I can hear another sound. More voices, whispering in menacing tones gyrate around the trees ahead. I stop in a bush near the voices and look into the clearing in front of me.

Ayler's voice startles me. "Someone get her!"

Jason's laugh tinkers from above. It startles me and I begin to wonder how Jason and Ayler found each other in the bush, but then I hear Preston's quiet laugh and I know something's up.

In the center of all of this is the girl from District One. She's turning frantically with every voice, her shaky knife raised. There are tears pouring down her face and her backpack lies at her side.

"Look, she's crying!" Dai Lao's voice jokes.

"She _tried _to get away, but she never really had a chance," that time it sounds like me.

It's more jabberjays harassing this girl. It's quite pathetic to see her so torn up by it, but I can understand her confusion after my little chase to get here.

The voices continue with laughs and taunts circling around the poor girl. She must have been mortified after her thin escape at the Cornucopia, she's probably been watching out for us this whole time. In fact, I bet we've been one of her main fears since we first formed in the Capitol.

The Marie Lynn jabberjay whispers again from right next to me. "Well, now's your chance."

At that moment all of my allies' voices stop. The girl still turns frantically, soaking and sobbing. It makes me sad to see it and I almost turn around, but in my head I can picture myself on my couch back home, screaming at the tribute on the screen not to run away from their chance to take another tribute out. This is my moment and I have to do it.

I watch her for a little while longer. Eventually she stops looking around and sits now, still in tears. She lies down in the wet grass, facing away from me, and sobs quietly. The view would look like a painting, if it weren't for her knife, messy hair, and crying. She's probably slept on the ground every night, I realise. She might have been crying then, too.

I try to move quietly as I approach her, but even when she notices me, she doesn't try to run away. She screams quite a bit, I try to make it quick.

I feel bad, awful really. The idea that my voice could be used to terrify someone that much is brutal. I never meant to make someone so innocent so afraid, I guess being in a group of people who don't have to worry on a day-to-day basis made me forget that there's people with no hope of getting out of here.

How many tributes' nightmares am I in?

In my chase, I forgot to mark trees, so now I have no idea where I am. There is a bit of a path marking how I got here, but the forest is so thick that the trail loses itself a couple of times. At those instances, I take my chances, but eventually I find out that I've been going the wrong way.

The reason I know my route isn't correct, though, is bittersweet. I think I'm hearing things at first, but soon I realise that what I perceive as my ears ringing is actually coming from somewhere nearby. The constant ring must be what the Gamemakers meant when they said they were going to make the parachutes easier to find.

It doesn't take long to find the first parachute, cherry red and five meters off the ground in a tree. What takes a long time is climbing up the tree to get it, considering that I haven't eaten anything since yesterday. By the time I get to where it's lodged, I trim the strings and let the capsule fall, praying that what's inside isn't fragile.

A few minutes after I have the capsule in my arms, there's a cannon blast from the sky. It reminds me that there was indeed a cannon blast from Preston's District partner, who I dealt with before, and that none of the guys will know whether that was a cannon for one of us, or someone we took care of. This cannon makes me worry about Ayler again, since he's in the woods with only a knife.

The second parachute I find is back at the cornucopia. It's landed right at the mouth and is quite larger than my other one. With any luck, this will be Ayler's spear, or some other Capitol weapon. Now that I'm at the Cornucopia, I at least have some idea where I'm going, remembering that we followed the tail of the Cornucopia into the woods on our first day. Although, It's a lot later than we left on the first day, I'm in worse shape and I have a bigger load. In summary, I'm a soaked, hungry, tired, ringing bundle of joy.

I know I'm on the right track when I reach the pine-to-leaf transition. I take a break here, slipping off my soaked socks and shoes so I can walk barefoot on the pine needles. It feels nice to have some sensation in my soaked feet, so I'm not worried about anything I might step on.

On my way I find an assortment of colourful mushrooms and am tempted to pick them. There's a nagging at the back of my mind, though and I leave them where they are. If I had Jason's book with me, I might try collecting them, but right now it's just too risky.

Right before I hit the desert, I smell the sharp scent of smoke. It brings a smile to my face instantly. Even if that smoke is coming from a forest fire, it would be a welcome change.

I can't contain myself when I see that it's not a forest fire and it takes all I have to not drop the parachutes and run. I muster everything to carry those two capsules to the tents and when I get there I'm met by a chorus of moans. The boys sit in a circle around a fire, sparks flying up into the navy sky.

"Ugh turn off the ringing, Everett," William whines.

"You can turn it off?" I ask groggily, not even sure of what I'm saying. All of my attention is focused on sitting down and massaging my skin in the warmth.

"There's a button on the side of the capsule," William explains, hands over his ears.

Ayler reaches over and presses each one, bringing forth sighs of pleasure from everyone. I notice a piece of meat in his hand.

"Food?" I ask, eyes wide and unable to say anything else.

"Yes, caveman, food," Ayler teases, waving it in front of my face. "I didn't get any parachutes, but I caught an eagle."

I moan happily when Preston passes me a piece of meat and recline to chew on it. "Eagles suck."

"Eagles suck,"Ayler affirms.

"Who died?" I ask.

William explains that he found the girl from Twelve wandering in the desert. I mention Preston's District partner, but none of the jabberjay details, since most of it involved Marie Lynn.

"Can we open these now?" Preston asks, four red parachutes and one silver one poking out from behind him. "They were really easy to find in the desert."

"You go first," William says.

In his parachutes, Preston has two that are full of dry food, one with a bar of soap, and the last one with a very beat-up knife.

"That knife must have been some tribute's," William explains about the weapon.

In his silver parachute is three bottles of water, which is nice considering we would have had to go get more in the next few days. We were able to drink rainwater during the storm, but no one had the energy to try to bottle it.

William opens the two parachutes he found, revealing Ayler's spear and a roll of paper towel. There are many sarcastic remarks made.

Jason found one parachute with an empty canteen that must have belonged to another tribute.

I'm nervous about opening mine, because we haven't had any traps yet. Fortunately the smaller canister has food in it, which is nice.

I had a feeling that I might find my stolen sword in the big one, since we already got Ayler's spear, and in a sense I was right. The sense that I was wrong in was that the sword wasn't mine.

I know it the minute I open it, that I have found the best of all of the gifts. Marie Lynn's gorgeous jewelled sword stares back at me, the design so characteristic of her and all of her glory that I can practically hear her voice. I check, it's not a jabberjay this time.

When I pull the sword out of the box, all of the boys' eyes open wide. At first I'm happy to have this fantastic weapon, but then I realise the biggest issue of all, Marie Lynn's going to want it back.

How will I explain to my allies when they wake up one morning that _I just lost_ this dream of a weapon?

They look at me expectantly, but I can only manage to say one thing. "Wow."

"Yeah," Dai Lao mutters.

We sit in a stupor for a few seconds before Ayler laughs.

"What?" William asks, smiling.

Ayler has to compose himself before he can answer. "Some poor kid out there, somewhere in the woods, is opening what they think is a gift from the Captiol and guess what they're finding?"

"I don't know," William prompts, shaking his head.

"Jason's earring."


End file.
